Artist Statement
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The selected artwork, titles, and photographs convey aspects of my personality. Since very early childhood, I have loved creating Noumena (things unto themselves) that engage and heal me.
My work encompasses the sacred and profane, simultaneous textural contrast (Synesthesia) and spatial frequency as it directly relates to visual perception. Different spatial representations or modalities convey varied information, affecting individuals' assimilation of their surroundings.
Biography
Between 1978 and 1983, Baumgardner launched his career in the Carolinas as an undergraduate, graduate student, and art teacher. In 1983 he moved to New York City as a professional artist, with his studio initially in Red Hook and most recently in the East Village. In 2006, he relocated to scenic Travelers Rest, South Carolina -- between Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC -- where he designed and built a studio haven in 2009.
Since 1978 Baumgardner's paintings, drawings, and sculptures have been exhibited in internationally-recognized galleries such as Charles Cowles (New York), Edward Thorpe (New York), Jeffery Coploff (New York), Wessell O'Connor (New York), Bentley Gallery (Scottsdale), Carrie Secrist (Chicago), and LewAllen Contemporary (Santa Fe). In 2012, the Greenville County Museum of Art presented a survey of his work spanning 1986-2010 in the major solo exhibition "Made for Another World". Since his passing, Baumgardner's archives have been studied, documented and curated by the Furman University Art Department through an ongoing collaboration with his estate, as reflected in their website BaumgardnerArchives.com.
Baumgardner's works have received favorable notices in publications such as The New York Observer (Grace Glueck), The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Chicago Tribune. In 1980 "Neighborhood of Squares" was selected in a juried competition for the Gibbes Museum by New York Times art critic Roberta Smith. In 1993 Baumgardner received a $20,000 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for his birch plywood series.
Baumgardner often remarked that his greatest creations were his four daughters.