John Baeder
Looking Back:1972-2018
ACA Galleries and MB Abram are pleased to announce John Baeder’s first exhibition at the gallery.
Comprising five decades of work from 1972 – 2018 the show includesthe last remaining paintings
from the artist’s personal collection alongside his final series of Matchbook Cover paintings as
well as his luminous still life photographs.
A consummate collector of Americana, Folk Art, classic cars, vintage post cards and match book
covers, to name a few, these artifacts serve as potent source material for the artist. His early
paintings depict the optimism of Post-War America – classic diners with streamlined designs and
shiny aluminum surfaces – Big Boy and other icons of roadside popular culture - motels and
campgrounds dependent on a new economy which allowed for automobiles and more leisure
activity; the paintings embody a sense of hope, prosperity and ambition. As years pass the
paintings document the decline and deterioration of these places signaling a shift away from the
idealism so prevalent in the earlier works.
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