Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Baur.
Mike, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Though I have always worked in large architectural scale works, I also love to work in smaller scales. I revel in finding ways to use diverse and unexpected materials.
I spent my childhood in various small southern Missouri towns as my father, a Baptist Minister, was called to different congregations. I first knew I was going to be and artist when at the age of six I saw Jackson Pollack’s work in a barbershop copy of “Time Magazine” and visited the Thomas Hart Benton murals in the Missouri Capitol Building. At age sixteen, I dropped out of high school and worked in a sawmill and other timber related jobs before enrolling as an art student at Arkansas State University in 1969.
After graduating with a BFA from Arkansas State University in 1973, I attended the University of Illinois Graduate School of Sculpture (MFA ’75). While in my first year in Urbana I switched from fiberglass castings and assemblies to cast concrete after losing several large pieces in a tornado. I owe the Civil Engineering Department a debt for allowing me to ask a lot of questions and receiving much valuable information about the properties of concrete.
In 1974, I won an international competition to build a 200-ton concrete sculpture in Barcelona, Spain.
In 1976, Derick Guthrie editor of the “New Art Examiner”, helped me get a loft space in a building owned by the Architect Harry Weese on South Dearborn Street in Chicago. While in this 8th floor loft I was able to construct the large steel and concrete sculptures for my first one-man show at the Zriny-Hayes Gallery in 1977. A year later my wife and I bought half of an 18,000 square foot building west of Sears Tower where I continued to produce my work. In 1987 we relocated to West Chicago where we built the current studio on 5 acres.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Weight, stability and permanence are important to me: this must be why industrial components, architectural forms and landscapes have always influenced my work. Combining steel and concrete has become a life-long approach to building form: while often bringing into the mix plastics, wood and stone to expand on this foundational dialogue. I intentionally leverage the implied utility that industrial materials possess while avoiding the literal. My current sculpture continues the visual themes I have been developing for over 45 years. My work begins with the considerations that all construction requires, but my goal is to arrive beyond formalistic concerns where the common materials I use eclipse their origins. The unique power of the three-dimensional object is always paramount.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work can be seen publicly at the Thompson Center and the Police Headquarters on 35th and State in Chicago.
In other locations in Illinois: North Point Marina in Winthrop Harbor; Elgin Community College; Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora; Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park, Governors State University, University Park; Lake Land Community College in Mattoon; The Department of Natural Resources in Springfield and The Highlake Sculpture Park in West Chicago.
The University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls Iowa has a large sculpture of mine and I have a large piece near Torredembarra, Catalonia, Spain along the A-1 coastal Highway.
Works can be seen and purchased from my studio in West Chicago. (www.MikeBaurSculpture.com)
Through “Gallerique” in Chicago, Modern Arts Midtown in Omaha, NE and Olsen-Larson Galleries in West DesMoines, IA
Contact Info:
- Address: Mike Baur Sculpture
2N710 Atlantic Drive
West Chicago, IL 60185 - Website: www.MikeBaurSculpture.com
- Phone: 6304171525
- Email: Mike@MikeBaurSculpture.com
Image Credit:
The picture with the moon and the studio shot were taken by Geoffrey Bates
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