Baptiste Ibar has recently emerged with a hybrid style of narrative painting that utilizes mythological components to address a crucial period of transition in global politics.
Infusing Spirit into Pop: Baptiste Ibar at the Lab
By L.P. Streitfeld
The Lab curates 10-day exhibitions as an essential component of Roger Smith Arts, an interdisciplinary experimental venue that also produces music, film and theater events. Since the initiative began in February, it has created a great deal of excitement among art writers, curators, collectors and gallery owners, who gathered at the hotel in recent weeks to exchange ideas. In April, the first of the Suitcase Series, which focuses on artists outside the New York area, began with a trio of artists from Memphis.
"We are trying to bridge the New York art world with the rest of society, and having a gallery in a hotel, which is a transient space, helps us achieve that goal on an international platform. We are selling philosophies — that art is many things to many different people. The idea of calling the gallery the "Lab" indicates that we have sort of a think tank environment here," says D. Dominick Lombardi, curatorial advisor for the program. "We would like to look at this as our little miracle on 47th street."
With this triumphant New York debut, Ibar has provided a meaningful launch to a new initiative that aims to make art populist once again. Ibar’s family immigrated to Connecticut from France when he was 7. He recalls that growing up in the confines of a white suburb increased his fascinating with indigenous people and their art, from Asia to Africa; a tribal spirit influences his bold color and freedom with the figure. Through a high school friendship with an Asian classmate, he became interested in Japanese animation, a major source of inspiration in his painting at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he graduated in 2000.
Ibar, who is 26, moved to Brooklyn last October. "A Greener Silence" reflects his notable emergence from underground, where he initially developed a redemptive religious vision in the Stamford Loft Artists Association. While most emerging artists in the New York art world continue the postmodern practice of dialoguing with other artists, Ibar is tackling contemporary themes with a hybrid style that successfully blends the current rage for colorful graphic/cartoon imagery with ancient sources of inspiration, such as Sumerian picture writing.
His subtle weaving of symbolism into mythological narratives is now taking a leap into social commentary. By portraying the cycles of nature as a unifying link between contemporary and ancient cultures, Ibar successfully infuses a spirit into pop that speaks to our primal need for connection in the midst of a media-saturated culture. The success of this hybrid style makes Ibar an artist to watch. He invites inevitable comparison with Jean-Michel Basquiat, who also utilized a primitive figurative style and a repeating hierarchy of symbols to bridge the unconscious with the collective. His recent works, which integrate a repeating motif of a potted camera, show Ibar creating a significant icon for our time.
Now in the New York art scene, Ibar’s vision has developed beyond conformist tendencies and unwanted influences, and he is on the path to public recognition. "I’ve had my eye on Baptiste for a long time," says exhibition curator Matt Semler, artistic director of Roger Smith Arts. Lombardi, a critic for the New York Times, asserts that the redemptive qualities of Ibar’s works make his paintings "some of the most sympathetic and memorable that you are likely to come across."
This auspicious debut reinforces the vital role of the Lab in presenting emerging artists such as Ibar. The collaboration sets a dynamic trend wherein young artists are empowered with the capacity to channel a new zeitgeist through their work.
