Roger's
Purple Heart
by
Ross Rice
..A
self-taught painter and sculptor, he got his start doing air-brush
work on conversion vans and motorcycles. He branched out into striping
cars and sign-work, which pays the bills if you’ve got the
skills. Switching formats was no big deal. “You’re still
applying your composition and your vision, so it’s just a
matter of getting familiar with the [medium].” An avid hang
glider, it occurred to Baker, swooping over a fresh-cut field, that
a new larger-scale medium might be the next frontier for him. Ideas
formed, permission to mow was granted, scale drawings were designed,
and in 2000, the Statue of Liberty cutting was unveiled and the
press came calling: CNN, NBC’s Today Show, The New York Times.
Baker started to realize the scope of what he was creating. “I
like....for the public to see it through the media, where everybody
can get in a plane and fly over it....so you do things that turn
the public on. You pick iconic things.”
Though
he picks publicly familiar and popular subjects, they also reflect
the interests of the artist. Elvis (2002) has particular resonance,
having died on Roger’s birthday. He had tickets to see the
King, who unfortunately died 2 days before the show. Baker didn’t
get his money back. Later, for the 25th anniversary of Elvis’
death, Baker paid tribute by cutting him into a field, then took
a picture from the air with a cheap camera (one that puts the date
and time on the bottom of the shot), made a copy, and sent it to
a Gracelandapproved Elvis Tribute Week image contest in Memphis.
The picture won Best In Show, hands down. More media attention followed
as a result.
After
that, it was on to Albert Einstein (2003), Jimi Hendrix (2004),
and the late motorcycle legend Indian Larry (2005.) After those
projects, Baker took a breather, did some more commissioned work,
and considered the next piece. “I didn’t know what I
was going to do for a project...
CONTINUE...
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