Universes in Universe - Worlds of Art

52nd Venice Biennale
10 June - 21 November 2007

Venice / 2007 / Tour / Roma Pavilion

14 of 25

Daniel Baker

 

 

 + zoom

+ zoom

 + zoom

+ zoom

 

Left:
Ornament. 2005
Mixed media on ceramic, 35 x 35 x 35 cm

In the background:
Bouquet Looking Glass. 2006/2007
Mixed media on perspex
Diptych, 90 x 120 cm each

My current work explores the imagined space occupied by the Gypsy, offering a window into the marginal area allocated to them - outside of, yet surrounded by, connected, yet dislocated from a society that they have existed within for hundreds of years. The imagined space here refers both to the symbolic space of myth and misconception held in the popular imagination, as well as the absence or disappearance of geographical space for Gypsy habitation in the light of recent legislation.

These works use painted, etched and gilded glass to produce illuminated mirrored surfaces, or looking glasses. Images appear behind the glass but in front of the mirrored background, locating the subject in a liminal or in-between space - a space which the Gypsy continues to inhabit both physically and symbolically. The somewhat obscured nature of the gilded reflection allows the viewer to inhabit the landscape of the work whilst at the same time evading true likeness and recognition.

These looking glasses seek to highlight an ambiguity and confusion in the way that Gypsies are seen - a state of obscured likeness and masked visibility that has been internalised by the Gypsy over time, making it difficult for Gypsies to fully see them-selves in the world. This difficulty in visualising the self has left popular stereotyped images relatively unchallenged, the legacy of which is a symbolic Gypsy that is ever present but never truly seen. These works are a meditation upon identity and dislocation.

Artist's statement

Print version
All texts and biographies

© Large photo: Haupt & Binder

 

* 1961 St Mary Cray (Kent), United Kingdom. Lives in London, United Kingdom.

more + zoom...

+ zoom

 

 

Venice / 2007 / Tour / Roma Pavilion