Life & Work with Casey Baden

Today we’d like to introduce you to Casey Baden.

Hi Casey, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Since I was a kid, I’ve always been interested in art and creativity. I spent all my time drawing, finger painting, playing with chalk, making up games, and training as a gymnast and dancer. Although a bit separate from the visual arts, I think my time spent as a gymnast informed my interest in the body and movement which has carried over as a central theme in my visual work. The high school I went to had a pretty extensive art program and a lot of great resources and teachers. There I learned about painting, darkroom photography, and printmaking, and by the time I was a junior, I applied to RISD’s summer pre-college program.

That summer everything really clicked for me. From the connections, I felt with the other artists, to delving into art history and design principles, to just spending my time in creative production for six full weeks. It was then I knew I wanted to pursue being an artist. Shortly thereafter, I got a BFA from New York University and worked for an artist in her studio right after graduating. Next, I worked in a few galleries in a few different cities before returning to school at CalArts for my MFA.

While at CalArts I also began attending artist residencies around the country. Both grad school and the residency opportunities really moved my practice forward, but then came the pandemic. In the summer of 2020, a colleague from grad school and I decided to start a small fabrication business and artist-run space called Full Service Creative. Through FS, we assisted other artists in creating their works, from one-off sculptures and lightboxes, to gallery furniture, frames, pedestals, and more. This endeavor allowed us to continue making our own work by combining our studios with the fabrication space for the business. While Full Service was an incredible learning experience, towards the end of 2021 my business partner and I both wanted to shift our focus, so we let that project go a bit dormant for the time being.

Since that decision, I’ve been focusing on my art practice full-time. I recently attended two residencies, the first at the Textile Art Center in New York at the end of 2021 and the second at PADA Studios in Portugal in early 2022. Now that I’m back in LA, I’m pursuing exhibition opportunities, working on a curatorial proposal for a group show, and developing an artist dinner series that I hope will have its first gathering at the end of May.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
There’s definitely been ups and downs. For a while after undergrad, I wasn’t 100% sure if I wanted to be the artist, or if I would be happy just to work in the arts, i.e. in a gallery, studio, or museum position. I spent five years working, moving to different cities, and trying different roles, but each time I also kept a studio and always found that to be the place I most wanted to be.

I’m also the kind of person who is both extremely creative and extremely practical, so for me, balancing the impulse of wanting to be in the studio with worrying about income, bills, and the overhead of having a studio practice to begin with… those two things have often been in competition for the position of what motivates my choices. Getting comfortable with the irregularity that comes with being an artist has been something I’ve struggled with and that causes distractions in my practice. Nevertheless, I’ve continued time and again to choose the path of being an artist so I know I have to honor that and trust in it.

Then of course, the pandemic was a big derailment. I had about 7 weeks of grad school left when we went into lockdown, which meant the majority of my cohort was unable to exhibit their thesis show. At the time, it felt like such a huge loss because the thesis show was what we had been working towards for 2 full years, but no one could have anticipated how much would be impacted over the years that came next. I was disappointed not to move from the MFA program to pursuing studio visits with curators, artists, and gallerists right away, but of course people were not meeting in person, nor were they generally meeting new people during that time. Now though, it feels as if things have picked right back up and that actually, not much was lost, only suspended or prolonged. I tend to be a bit of an impatient person so I always have to remind myself that the journey is a long one.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a mixed-media artist working primarily with painting and textiles. I combine figurative and pattern-heavy paintings with naturally dyed fabric, patch-working, weaving and rug tufting. With these collaged surfaces, I then consider unique installation methods and armatures that engage with furniture and architecture. Conceptually, I’m interested in exploring tactility and embodiment, intimacy and desire, the quotidian and the domestic. Combining craft (the handmade, embodied knowledge, & enduring labor) and intimate personal experience, my works compel and are full of traces of physical touch. Dichotomies like attraction and repulsion, holding on and letting go, independence and belonging, natural and synthetic, private and public, enliven my works with a dynamic tension.

I recently returned from a residency in Portugal and am really excited about the body of work I was able to start there. In just four weeks I was able to make four paintings and two rug tuftings and I just felt a huge rush of inspiration during that time. Now that I’m back in LA, I’m excited about some upcoming exhibition opportunities that are in development for later this year.

Additionally, I’m interested in building community and supporting the work of other artists, so I have a lot of projects underway in that vein that I see as a part of my practice as well. So far, I’ve curated three exhibitions and am working on two proposals at the moment for shows I’d like to do in the future. I’m also a co-founder of a project called Textile Resource LA. In 2021, we hosted two exhibitions, taught workshops, and spoke on artist panel discussions. Now we are hoping to regroup to consider new possibilities for this project. We’d like to have a more permanent physical space to continue putting on exhibitions and where we can host other artists as residents, studio mates, or students among a variety of textile resources and equipment.

My newest endeavor is a plan to host an artist dinner series at our studio warehouse in Commerce, east of the arts district. This is more of a social project that I hope will commence at the end of May which creates a casual environment for meeting new people in the arts and starting new connections and conversations.

What matters most to you?
Friendship and community – supporting others and feeling supported when you need it – are what’s most important to me. I think relationships of all kinds be it familial, romantic, friendly, colleagues, mentors, teacher-student, etc. are the most meaningful and defining aspects of life.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: caseybaden.com
• Instagram: @casey.baden, @textileresourcela, @__fullservice__
• Other: https://www.fullservicearts.com/, https://www.textileresourcela.com/

Image Credits:
Photographs by Antoine Midant (artworks and portrait – studio photos)