Michael Baum

Landscape is not a genre of art but a medium...a medium of exchange between the human and the natural, the self and the other...Landscape is a scene meditated by culture, it is both represented and presented space, both a signifier and a signified, both frame and what a frame contains, both a real place and its simulacrum... W.J.T. MITCHELL

​

My artistic practice employs human movement as a means to examine the convergence of adventure and art. The drawing, print, and artist book work I create are influenced by various outdoor pursuits, ranging from long distance cycling trips, to backcountry ski tours and extended treks. The resulting work exists as an indexical record of my travels relating to the abstract and physical facets of landscape. This practice engages the human body as a vehicle for expression, while exploring ways nature and the landscape can potentially influence me both visually and physically.

​

My current studio projects focus on establishing a direct link to the concern for human conduct and natures role in affecting that conduct. One can argue that the epistemology of human activities can be conditioned by nature. This further illustrates the body's ability to operate various systems of measurement tracing its relationship to the land, coexisting as both a unit of measurement and a map, a recorder of space, time and experience. Given the long history of artists who have created work about nature and their environment, part of my artistic practice is simply to finding new ways to respond to nature today.