John Baeder
VR Exhibition

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.