SARAH BAKER is a multimedia artist and entrepreneur whose body of work spans performance, photography, film, and scent. Born in San Francisco, Baker spent her early years in Buffalo, New York before attending the San Francisco Art Institute (BFA) followed by London’s Goldsmiths College (MFA).
Baker’s provocative artworks explore the mystique of luxury products, branding, celebrity, fashion, and spectacle. She has cast herself as Twin Peak’s Laura Palmer in a daring photo series. She has posed as a fictional celebrity—complete with entourage—in which she devised a public intervention which was published as a fashion editorial meets paparazzi spread for Vague Paper Magazine and later exhibited internationally. She has created a ‘branded’ version of herself as the “Muse of Power” for the cover of Saatchi Gallery Magazine Art & Music.
Baker has openly confessed to stalking Jackie Collins, being so enamored by her romance novels about love, lust, scandal and betrayal. In 2008, while filming near the Arizona dessert, Baker happened upon a Jackie Collins book-signing and the two sat down for a lengthy interview. The meeting resulting in a feature print interview, Studs, published in Useless Magazine. The following year, Baker released her short film, Studs, extracting dialogue and three archetypal characters from Collins’ 1969 novel, The Stud, and choreographing scenes and disco music to ultimately insinuate a heartrending grand finale. Collins also gave Baker her blessing to create the fan blog/art project, Dear Jackie.
It’s true that Baker’s obsession with Collins has informed a large body of Baker’s own artwork, leading her to write, produce and direct several video works and live theatrical performances inspired by the romance novel and 1980’s nighttime soap opera genres. Her productions are populated by glamorous and powerful characters who inhabit a world of indulgence. She has worked with actors such as Oscar winner Wes Studi (Last of the Mohicans), Bill May (award-winning American synchronized swimmer), Olivia d’Abo (The Wonder Years, Law and Order) and Daniel Croix Henderson (Tyler Perry’s The Oval).
Baker’s work has exhibited internationally from Buffalo to London and beyond. She is the recipient of grants and support from the Arts Council England in the UK, as well as the Andy Warhol Foundation, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center and the National Endowment for the Arts in the US. She is the founder and CEO of niche perfume line, Sarah Baker Perfumes.
Baker is the founder of Sarah Baker Perfumes, an extension of Baker’s artistic practice where scents emerge as characters from an extravagant world. Baker is also currently working on a multimedia project with Baron Magazine, and Versace.
Sarah Baker lives in London with her husband, son, and their feisty cat, Tomahawk.
CONTACT
SarahBakerStudio(at)gmail.com