Skip to main content
Back to Show
Artbound

Gary Baseman and Me: Critique, Correspondence, and Collaboration in the Art World

 
Artbound's editorial team has reviewed and rated the most compelling weekly articles. After putting two articles up for a vote, the audience chose this article to be made into a short-format documentary.

One of the most well-known artists in the world, Gary Baseman creates a parallel universe of stylized landscapes populated by gently feral creatures and doe-eyed maidens who go about their business with a flair for costume and an infectious urgency. His paintings and illustrations are equally familiar to readers of Juxtapoz and the New York Times Book Review, and have flourished into a merchandising empire that includes limited edition toys, high-end fashions, and seasonal cards. Baseman was already established as an illustrator when he became one of the earliest mainstream-to-Lowbrow crossover artists, except he did it sort of backwards. "I started at the L.A. Times and made my way down to the L.A. Weekly and then Juxtapoz. From the New York Times and the cover of Time, I worked my way into the gutter." His mom famously worked at the bakery in Canter's for 35 years, making her as much of a celebrity, at least locally, as Baseman himself. Even so, in the late 80s, he decamped for New York to pursue his career, and in a particularly fruitful side-effect, became enamored of the flea market scene there. This was circa 1988, way before eBay, when you had to go and look for yourself. He was drawn to strange, quasi-spiritual figurines, pop culture throw-aways that he invested with new meaning. They were invited into his studio, where they became sources of inspiration, made appearances in paintings, developed into original characters, and reemerged off the canvas, taking shape as the stars of his signature sculpture-toy lines -- which in turn go on to fulfill the totemic desires of a new generation of obsessive collectors. "I definitely feel I'm growing as a painter. No, not as a painter -- as an artist. Painting is too limiting; I want to make art you don't just walk by or through, but actually interact with.

Support Provided By
Season
Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement
Unlock with PBS Passport
57:03
The life of the visionary musician, dancer and activist Nobuko Miyamoto.
Black Art: A Brockman Gallery Legacy
56:38
Brockman Gallery was the center of a community of Black artists in L.A. from 1967-1990.
Arts & Architecture: The Case Study House Program
56:33
West Coast Modernism took hold in post-WWII with the “Case Study Houses” program.
Blended Worlds: The Fusion of Art & Science at JPL
56:59
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory transforms science into awe-inspiring creative projects.
The Cheech
57:08
Follow Cheech Marin's journey from comedy icon to Chicano art advocate.
East West Players: A Home on Stage
56:43
Chronicling the 58-year history of the longest running theatre of color in the U.S.
Angel City Press: L.A. through the Pages
55:51
Angel City Press has been shaping and influencing public understanding of LA for decades.
Artists-In-Residence
56:39
Artists-In-Residence programs provide artists opportunities to create uninterrupted work.
L.A. Rebellion: A Cinematic Movement
56:40
Following the Watts Uprising, UCLA increased film program enrollment of students of color.
América Tropical: The Martyr Mural of Siqueiros
56:43
David Alfaro Siqueiros created Olvera Street’s popular mural with an innovative technique.
Chinatown Punk Wars
56:43
Two Chinese restaurants became the unlikely epicenter of L.A.’s burgeoning punk scene.
A Rubén Ortiz-Torres Story
56:17
Rubén Ortiz-Torres explores his past and present in an uncertain socio-economic future.
Active loading indicator