Maite Baron – Q&A

Maite Baron is a Spanish-British artist based in London. Having begun her career in high-end fashion, followed by interior design, printmaking, and then self-development, her mixed media art reflects her childlike curiosity. Referencing Minimalism, Geometric Abstraction, and Colour Field concepts, Baron’s abstract-conceptual-expressionist art is often unconsciously autobiographical. She explores the role of gender in society, the climate change emergency, the fragility of time, and the power of love and the spiritual. Her work results from a process of automatism where she draws inspiration from nature, fashion, interiors and everyday experiences, engaging memory and imagination with the contemporary.

She likes to interact directly with the mediums, creating a space for a conversation that is waiting to emerge. Generally, her starting point is just a feeling, a colour, an interior, or a found object. Her work evolves into a series of linked small-scale and large-scale paintings on canvas and paper, revealing the emotional journey it triggers as the story unfolds. Her bold imagery emphasises texture, colour, and mark-making, revealing a thoughtful interplay that results in intricate pieces of ambiguous poetry. Baron’s work is full of meaning, symbology, and metaphors, aiming for something much more profound than what’s at the literal, surface level. Her intention is to create art that creates a sense of possibility and makes the viewer feel connected and alive.

In 2020, she co-founded Baron Grafton Arthouse, an art studio and online gallery to showcase her work to global collectors and trade members. She received a Certificate of Artistic Merit from The Pinacotheque Museum of Luxembourg for the 2020 – 2022 editions of the Luxembourg Art Prize. Baron has exhibited in London, Paris, and New York and her work can be found in private residences in the UK and abroad.

Self-taught or art school?

I began my creative-artistic career in high-end fashion in Barcelona and Paris, where I absorbed as much art in every form and shape as I could – in a Bauhaus worldview fashion where I saw all art disciplines connected and influencing one another. Throughout my life, fashion, art, and design have had an unconscious synergy in my work, moving from one realm to the next effortlessly. Interior design, printmaking, and self-development have also been an important part of my life. From a purely artistic point of view, I started as a printmaker and then moved to abstract painting on canvas and paper. Later on, I trained in mixed media painting at Central Saint Martins University of the Arts in London, which allowed me to bring all my interests and life experiences together.

How would you describe your style?

In my art, I like to mix materials and disciplines with a global frame of reference, reflecting my childlike curiosity, and my love for learning from different cultures and fields. I describe myself as a contemporary abstract expressionist – a conceptual artist constantly evolving. My mixed media art is characterized by a cross-disciplinary, eclectic, and iconoclastic approach that showcases a blend of abstraction with playful twists and collages with an art worldview reminiscent of Kandinsky and Rauschenberg.

Can you tell us about your artistic process?

My abstract-conceptual-expressionist art results from a process of automatism, often unconsciously autobiographical. I don’t like to sketch, instead, I enjoy interacting directly with the mediums and two- and three-dimensional found, non-art materials, collected from the street, charity shops, or antique markets, pushing the boundary between painting and collage. I consider my artworks to be living entities, constantly changing and interacting in a two-way conversation, telling me what to do to reveal the message that is waiting to emerge. Generally, my starting point is just a feeling, a colour, an interior space or photograph, or a found object that often incorporates an unknown narrative. My work evolves in a series of linked small-scale and large-scale paintings on canvas, wood panel, and paper, revealing the emotional journey it triggers as the story unfolds. My bold imagery emphasises texture, colour and quick gestural brushstrokes, revealing a thoughtful interplay that results in intricate pieces of ambiguous visual poetry.

Is narrative important in your work?

The narrative is very important for me. The search for meaning and purpose is an overlaying theme in my life, with a strong interest in self-development and Western and Eastern philosophies. In my art, I explore the role of gender in society, the climate change emergency, the fragility of time, and the power of love and the spiritual. I believe that art has the power to heal, so my work is full of symbology and metaphors, aiming for something much more profound than what’s at the literal, surface level. My intention is to create art that creates a sense of possibility, creates social change, and makes the viewer feel connected and alive.

Who are your favourite artists and why?

For me this is the most difficult question to answer as my art references Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Gestural Abstraction, Art informal, Colour Field, and Arte Povera concepts, and ideas, however having travelled extensively around the world from an early age, I have many influences coming from different disciplines and traditions.

Being born in Barcelona (Spain) the works of Miró, Gaudi, and Tàpies are imprinted on my psyche. Their use of strong colours, found objects, and non-art materials and their spiritual and poetic aesthetics together with Piero Manzoni’s conceptual work using humble, everyday materials have a strong influence on my work. I love Kandinsky’s, Mondrian and Rothko’s masterful use of colour. As well as Jasper Johns’s abstractions incorporating text and numbers, and Rauschenberg’s use of everyday objects as art materials blurring the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and collage.

Lucio Fontana’s spatial art synthesising space, colour, movement, sound, and time; Alberto Burri’s use of materials and gestural art, Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota’s webs of red and black filling a room, Kazuo Shiraga’s heavy impastos, Hiroshi Senju multisensory waterfalls, and Korean minimalist artists from the Dansaekhwa movement like Chung Sang-Hwa and Kim Whan-ki are for me endless inspiration.

Who or what inspires your art?

With my endless curiosity, this is easy. I draw inspiration from fashion, interiors, nature, architecture, travelling, and everyday found objects, engaging memory and imagination with the contemporary. Everyday life is my inspiration, my interactions, my dreams, what I do and how I feel.

Where’s your studio and what’s it like?

My studio is in West London where the space is reorganised and adapted to suit the creation aspects of the current collections I’m working on. As a mixed media artist, I go from doing handmade papers, preparing collage bits with resin or wax… mixing colours, painting, and printing, … is an endless process of creation where several parts will come together to create a final piece. I try to keep the studio tidy however the whole space is quite eclectic, full of things that keep popping up, often recycled or objects I find in the street, or things I buy in charity shops or antique markets. I share my studio with my partner – Keith Grafton. Sometimes being in the studio feels like time travelling as we’re always searching and collecting objects for the next artwork series. We inspire and influence each other’s art, which is fun! And of course, all walls are full of our artworks, which keep coming and going as they are sold. Certainly, the studio is full of colour, character, and the unexpected, like three mannequins that lay around the space dressed as Marvel heroes!

Do you have any studio rituals?

I love rituals! I like to start connecting with nature; even if is just five minutes of watering the plants I’ve around. Then I prepare the ingredients to make a healthy lunch so is all ready; this allows me to put my thoughts together before making a fruity infusion, put an incense stick and close my eyes holding a Tibetan singing bowl or healing tuning forks for a couple of minutes. Now I’m ready to flow… When I’m starting a new series of works generally I put nature’s sounds in the background. However, silence is the only music for me during the later stages of the work. When I’m in the studio I enter into a sacred place where time and space completely disappears.

What are you working on currently?

I like to work in two or three series of works at a time, moving from one to the other until I consider the series complete. Right now I’m doing a collection based on the concept of time and its impact on our lives, another exploring climate change consciousness shifts, and another exploring love and intimacy inspired by my partner Keith Grafton’s poem ‘A Lover’s Dimension’.

Where can we buy your art?

You can buy my art in Baron Grafton Arthouse website :
https://barongraftonarthouse.com/

On Artsy’s gallery:
https://www.artsy.net/artist/maite-baron/
https://www.artsy.net/baron-grafton-arthouse