© 2010 Carrie Ann Baade

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My Paintings are newly spun narratives informed by religion and

mythology which include gods, rulers, and demons but who all speak about the complexity of

the human condition. These are cautionary tales of love and power, and also icons for mod

ern society that is far from saintly. My ideas start with the fanciful and idealized world of the

mind yet, I paint from something that can be held in my hands. To begin, I start with scissors

in hand, composing from snippets of several hundred pictorial fragments scattered about me

on the floor. What is created is a prototype collage of layered scraps with cut edges. Some are

photographs of me while others are cut up illustrations from art history. Using this collage, I

paint in a trompe l’oeil manner showing the multiple layers with cut edges which suggest the

complexity of individual’s psychologies – their masks and their hidden secrets.

The materials and techniques I use revitalize the archaic traditions of both painting oil on cop

per, and egg tempera panel painting with gold leaf. I paint with methods informed by study

ing with art conservators and looking at the old masters. It is important that art’s past not be

forgotten. As an artist and subject in my work, I consider myself to be steward and ax man to

the legacy of art history by cutting and serving up the reinvigorated past to be contemplated

in context of the contemporary.

Carrie Ann Baade

The Ectoplasm of Miss. Svengali As Produced by Madam Phantasm Illusionista Oil on panel, 2007

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My paintings are fractured portraits for a modern society;

decadently and irreconcilably unable to integrate under the strain

of the human condition.

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The idea for each begins in the fanciful and idealized world of the mind yet; these painting originate from some-

thing that can be held.

The Perilous Compassion of the Honey Queen Oil on panel, 18 x 24 image, 25 x 31 inches framed, 2009. (Left)

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The Manufacturing of Tears Oil on panel, 18 x 24 inches, 25 x 31 inches framed, 2009.

The Plague: An Allegory about Dating Oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches. 2008

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The Supposedly Shared Sorrow of Magdalene and the Crocodile, Ovvil on panel, 9 x 12 inches, 2009.

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As an artist and subject in my work, I consider myself to be steward and ax man to the legacy of

art history by cutting and serving up the reinvigorated past to be contemplated in

context of the contemporary.

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By picking through the bone yard of myths, literature, and history; I assemble narratives played out by demons and perverse heroines. Each tells a story about the complexity of

the human condition.

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With scissors in hand, I compose from snippets of several hundred pictorial fragments scattered about me on the floor. What is created is a prototype collage of layered scraps with cut edges.

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Some are photographs of me while others are torn out illustrations from art his-

tory books. Using this collage, the agglomeration is the source for the painting

executed in a trompe l’oeil manner; the multiple layers with cut edges not a har-monious synthesis. These suggest the complex-ity of individual’s psychologies – their exposed

masks and their concealed secrets.

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The Devil Is In the Details 3 of 6, Lilith the Protector, gouache and ink mixed media on paper, 11 x 15 inches image, 2009

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The Devil is in the Details, part IV, Suicide of the Alligator Queen 10” x 13”, gouache and ink on ziatype print, 2006

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The Devil Is In the Details 5 of 6, The Girl Headed Snake, gouache and ink mixed media on paper, 11 x 15 inches image, 2009

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Carrie was born in Natchitoches, Louisiana inside a house made from a riverboat that had caught fire and was brought ashore. Her earliest memories and fondest recollections are of living in New Orleans, which is delightfully magical place to be a child. Her family then moved to a rural and arid region of Colorado where there were no children within walking distance of her house. She played by herself with the bones from dead horses and branches; attempting to make a barren world something exciting. It was here that spent long hours practicing her drawing and painting to the best of her ability with books of great art in far off lands. As childhood wore off, she was soon fed up with this incomprehen-sibly boring place that others found beautiful. Saving up her money, she traveled around the world exploring art museums and pondering ancient civilizations. After much eye gorging on five continents, she discovered that she had no talent for foreign language and returned home. The problem now was what to paint. After many years of experimentation and frustration, looking towards the old masters for direction, Carrie became enraged by a world that seemed to have all the great paintings already painted and nothing new for her add. With huge dissatisfaction, she attacked her library of art books, mercilously tearing off their spines ,and releasing the pages from their bindings. Out of this sea of pictured paper, she cut new characters for herself and stuck them on others painting’s backgrounds upside down. Pleased with her creation, she busied herself with repainting these collaged articles into new masterpieces that she found far more entertaining than the old paintings they came from. Carrie is currently an Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at Florida State University accompanied by her polydactyl cat.

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page 6, 25 The Bride Stripping the Bachelors Bare, oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches image, 2008. As a woman goes from being a maiden to a wife, her meaning and significance alters. In what is nearly

an alchemical transformation, a maiden of little significance is changed into a bride bestowed with social status and respectability. This process transforms her status to herself, her husband, her family, and the community. If a woman moves outside of what is considered to be decent, be she maiden or wife, she will be judged.

page 7 The Ectoplasm of Miss. Svengali As Produced by Madam Phantasm Illusionista, Oil on panel, 2007. Inspired by the writings of Mary Roach in “Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife.” In this book, she re-

searches the tradition of spiritualists during the 19th century. Mediums would produce phantom forms or faces, as well as, “ectoplasm” – a supernatural substance from beyond. This reminded me of the way that I manifest ideas from the world of dark subconscious. In this self-portrait, I am Madam Phantasm. In December of 2007, Harold Golen Gallery in Miami caught fire and nearly every painting was destroyed yet this one survives. It only required a light repainting over the smoke damage. Collection of Amy Neill.

page 8 The Happy Whore of Babylon (True Love on the Eve of the Apocalypse). 12 x 18 inches, 2008. This is my tribute to fatalistic love. I like the idea that it is never too late to fall in love and that even the

most evil person can be redeemed in their last moments of life. Here we have the fabled “Whore of Babylon,” Revelation’s bad girl who is said to be the personification of Rome and Rome’s decadence, and the Antichrist, who is suggested to be one of the four riders of the apocalypse. Should their eyes lock amid the damned, would they attempt to stop the end of the world… now that they have found their destiny? Would they even notice the world in flames around them?

page 9 The Littlest Queen, oil on panel, 9 x 12 inches image, 2009. This painting commemorates act of putting on the attire and the “public face” when going out to face

the world. Sometimes our role as an authority figure is new to us or we feel out of place with societies expec-tations. No matter! We must pretend to have “it” together no matter what embarrassing thing is going on around us. No matter how we might desperately desire to remove ourselves from the adornments and respon-sibilities that entrap us and we must make the best of the situation.

page 10, 2 The Ecstasy of Madam Dolorosa, egg tempera and oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches, 2007. In the tradition of the “Madonna Dolorosa,” this painting is a self-portrait and that plays off Christian

symbolism of the pain of love and loss. Have not nearly all of us felt as though we “may die” for the pain for loosing a love?

page 11 Lady Or Tiger, oil on panel, 18 x 24 inches image, 2009. The title for this piece is taken from Frank Stockton’s story about a king and his daughter. The story be-

gins with these words told by a balladeer, “I’ll tell you a truth about love and jealousy.” The king created a unique forum for determining justice by providing the accused with his choice of fate from behind one of two doors. Behind one is a beautiful woman and the other…a ravenous tiger. The innocent man is required to marry the woman and the guilty will be eaten by the tiger. Knowing this, the daughter and a man below her status engage in a tryst that has the misfortune to be noticed by the king. The lover is imprisoned and his punishment is to face the two doors. When the peasant enters the arena, he looks into seats around the arena for the eyes of the princess who could tell him which door to choose and which door do you think she idicated? The answer that would let him live or did she tell him the only answer that would permit her to keep him all for herself?

page 14 The Perilous Compassion of the Honey Queen Oil on panel, 18 x 24 image, 2009. The Honey Queen pours over herself over a dead man in an attempt to make them whole. There are

those individuals who cannot be redeemed by any act benevolence. There is something necrotic within them that can never be revived. Having a generous nature, can lead one into being trapped into an engagement that will cost them their virtue and vitality.

page 16 The Manufacturing of Tears, oil on panel, 18 x 24 inches, 25 x 31 inches framed, 2009. This is a metaphor of the futile and painful aspects of existence. Each of us works to keep ourselves

alive and to perhaps one day work hard enough to be out of immediate danger. We persevere through pain in order to survive. The struggle is to manifest meaning out of this toil; there appears to be something or some-one higher than ourselves that demands that we participate. To deny participation is death.

page 17, 33 The Plague: An Allegory about Dating, oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches. 2008 Crying in a garden surrounded by her many frog suitors; this lady is not having the best time. In self-

pity, she cries because “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your handsome prince!” The classic fairy tale of the frog prince is re-interpreted for the woman who finds herself required to “play the field” and is terri-fied by her prospects of finding a prince.

page 18 Queen Bitch, oil on panel, 24 x 30 inches image, 2008. Being a woman in power usually earns her title of “bitch.” There is no male equivalent that is so

dismissive and negative. Long obsessed with the biographies of the powerful, I am interested in their story: their journey, what they do to stay, and their fall. In this painting, I have created a bejeweled and bloodthirsty queen made androgynous by her choice of adornment: an enormous, prosthetic phallus. I like the idea that this is a woman who is not afraid to wear the aggressive gear of male potency, but I also do not shy away from the original connotation from Bowie’s masterpiece of transvestite prostitutes.

page 19 The Supposedly Shared Sorrow of Magdalene and the Crocodile, oil on panel, 9 x 12 inches, 2009. This work displays the idea that one must be on guard in times of vulnerability. There are those that

will seek to gain intimacy for their own purpose, which may turn out to have a detrimental hidden agenda. The crocodile has a duplicitous nature. At times, I suspect that he wishes the crying Magdalene well and enjoys the physical contact her sorrow has allowed him. However, his tears are false and one can only anticipate that he will indeed devour her. The eye on the crocodile is from a painting of Christ, Our Man of Sorrow; Magdalene’s eyes are taken from, Our Lady of Sorrow, belonging to Mary.

page 20 A Three Headed Tiger Cursing Heaven, 12 x 18 inches, 18 x 24 inches framed, 2010. Our lady’s rage has gotten the better of her and she is roaring a malediction to the very powers of

creation to change her circumstances. Perhaps we have all felt like we were difficult to put up with or that the world around us was reproachable. This three headed tiger sits on a lotus dais from the Eastern traditions at-tributed to one who is an god. As she rages, the lotus, a symbol of enlightenment are set afire suggesting that all one’s efforts to be holy and good can be lost in an instant of bad behavior.

page 22 The Angel Maker’s Daughter oil on copper, 9 x 12, 2007. An “angel maker” is a French euphemism for a person who performs abortions. Many of my titles come

to me during my insomnia and I have no idea what the meaning is until I can look it up. The painting is about the attempt to rescue something that is beautiful and in jeopardy of peril.

page 24 Underpaintings of The Bride Stripping the Bachelors Bare, oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches image, 2008.

page 25, The Bride Stripping the Bachelors Bare, oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches image, 2008. As a woman goes from being a maiden to a wife, her meaning and significance alters. In what is nearly

an alchemical transformation, a maiden of little significance is changed into a bride bestowed with social status and respectability. This process transforms her status to herself, her husband, her family, and the community. If a woman moves outside of what is considered to be decent, be she maiden or wife, she will be judged.

page 27 Collage of Queen Bitch 24 x 30 inches image, 2008.

page 28 Collage of The Plague: An Allegory about Dating 16 x 20 inches. 2008

page 30 Collage of The Happy Whore of Babylon (True Love on the Eve of the Apocalypse). 12 x 18 inches, 2008.

page 31 Underpainting of The Happy Whore of Babylon (True Love on the Eve of the Apocalypse). 12 x 18 inches, 2008.

page 32 Underpaintings of The Plague: An Allegory about Dating, oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches. 2008

page 33, 17 The Plague: An Allegory about Dating, oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches. 2008 Crying in a garden surrounded by her many frog suitors; this lady is not having the best time. In self-

pity, she cries because “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your handsome prince!” The classic fairy tale of the frog prince is re-interpreted for the woman who finds herself required to “play the field” and is terri-fied by her prospects of finding a prince.

page 34 (top)The Devil is in the Details, part I 10” x 13” gouache and ink on ziatype print, 2006

page 34 (bottom) The Devil is in the Details, part II 10” x 13”gouache and ink on ziatype print, 2006

page 38 The Devil Is In the Details part III, Lilith the Protectorgouache and ink mixed media on paper, 11 x 15 inches image, 16 x 20 inches framed, 2009.

page 36, 37 The Devil Is In the Details part IV, Suicide of the Alligator Queengouache and ink mixed media on paper, 11 x 15 inches image, 16 x 20 inches framed, 2009.

page 39 The Devil is in the Details, part VI, Girl Oroboros as the Corruption of Innocents 11” x 15”, gouache and ink mixed media on paper, 2009