David Baker is a realist painter and medical illustrator living and working in San Antonio, Texas since 1995.
Over many years Baker has painted a variety of figurative work ranging from portraiture, figurative landscape, and geologic detail. These varied subject share a common concern for intimate detail combined with formal composition and a realist eye for structure and surface. Influences include French realists of the 19th century, '30s era American realists, and more contemporary figurative painters of the late 20th century.
Fairly recently Baker concentrated on details of classic, homebuilt, and vintage aircraft with special attention to the intersection of surfaces and planes of aircraft materials. The work is an intimate examination of mechanical form and materials, often with interesting plays of light, color, reflection, against the sky beyond.
More recently, Baker has produced expansive views of the Big Bend/Rio Grande area, often with singular foreground elements, a funerary marble, a horse, or a field researcher involved in data gathering.
Biography
Education
- M.A. Medical Illustration, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center , Dallas , Texas . August 1997.
- B.F.A. University of North Texas , Denton , Texas , emphasis on painting, 1976-1978.
Professional Experience
Freelance realist artist. Produce and exhibit highly realistic figurative paintings. Paint commissioned portraits. Exhibit in galleries, museums and institutions in Texas.
Medical illustrator. University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio, Texas, 1995-2015. Create original medical illustrations for publications in medical specialties including dentistry, opthamology, radiology, surgery, and microbiology.
One-Person Exhibitions
- 2010 Hondo Municipal Airport Terminal, Hondo, Texas
- 1990 Eugene Binder Gallery, Dallas, Texas
- Alternate Gallery, Dallas, Texas
- 1987 Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas
- 1985 Alternate Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Group Exhibitions
- 2008 Hunt Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
- 2006 EAA AirVenture Museum, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
- 2005 Hunt Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
- 2004 Selections From the Barrett Collection, The Grace Museum, Abilene , Texas
- 1995 The Barrett Collection, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas
- 1992 'Metal and Mettle', Austin College, Sherman, Texas
- 1991 'Texas Collection', Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
- 1988 Group Exhibition, Eugene Binder Gallery, Dallas, Texas
- 'Habitats', Peregrine Gallery, Dallas, Texas
- 'Landscapes', University of Dallas, Dallas, Texas
- 1987 'Texas Annual', Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas
- 'Eight Texas Realist Painters', Frito Lay Inc., Texas
- 1986 'Landscape Paintings', Eugene Binder Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Collections
The Dallas Museum of Art, Frito Lay Company, Kerr McGee Oil Company, The Grace Museum (Abilene), Children's Medical Center, Museum of the Southwest (Midland), Cass Oil Company, McKinsey and Company, and many private collections in Dallas, San Antonio and elsewhere.