Firelei B?ez

Firelei Báez is a Dominican Republic-born artist who has created artwork over the last 15 years that explores the historical narratives of the Atlantic Basin. She draws on various disciplines to challenge categories of race, gender, and nationality in her paintings, drawings, and installations. Her exuberant works feature intricate patterns, motifs, and saturated hues, often centered around women of color. This book offers a comprehensive understanding of Báez's complex body of work, showcasing her as one of today's most important artists.

Format: Hardback
Length: 200 pages
Publication date: 26 March 2024
Publisher: Distributed Art Publishers

Over the past 15 years, Firelei Báez has produced artwork that explores the historical narratives of the Atlantic Basin. She draws on a range of disciplines, including anthropology, geography, folklore, fantasy, science fiction, and social history, to challenge categories of race, gender, and nationality in her paintings, drawings, and installations. Her vibrant paintings showcase intricate and layered uses of pattern, motifs, and saturated hues. Primarily focusing on women of color, her works incorporate regal fashion styles and decorative elements alongside defiant gazes to assert their authority.

In anticipation of her North American traveling solo exhibition, this lavishly illustrated book provides audiences with a comprehensive understanding of Báez's diverse body of work, solidifying her position as one of today's most significant artists. Partly inspired by artists' sketchbooks, the monograph features full-spread reproductions of the artist's preparatory sketches alongside annotations, source images, and close-up details of her artworks. Numerous scholars contribute thoughtful and reverent texts, weighing in on Báez's indelible impact on the contemporary art landscape.

Born in the Dominican Republic in 1981, Firelei Báez reworks visual references drawn from diasporic histories to envision new possibilities for the future. She overlays figuration, symbolic imagery, and abstract gesture onto large-scale reproductions of found maps and documents. She then populates these representations with hybrid forms composed of folkloric and literary references, textile patterns, and plant life.

Weight: 1410g
Dimension: 243 x 308 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781636811253