The Rip: John Baird
Lennox St Gallery is pleased to present 'The Rip', an exhibition of recent paintings by John Baird. Please join us for the launch of the artist's exhibition on Saturday, 30 May 2026, 2- 4pm.
John Baird’s latest exhibition comprises seascapes and still life. The artist’s ongoing exploration of the frisson between the real and the imagined is on show. There is an innate difference between what is seen and what can be felt. It is very much the artist’s take on the world, but he is also equally dependent upon us to play along. John Baird does not aim for topographical or pictorial accuracy in either genre. In his eyes, the pictures can be viewed as 'wrong', in the sense that they are not aiming at some sort of universal truth or verisimilitude. In the seascapes, for example, he operates from an awareness of the conventions of the early European seafaring artists who charted unfamiliar territory by assiduously sketching distant headlands, open passages and the depth of water. Baird takes on aspects of this more rational approach but then turns any systematic desire for 'all-knowingness' on its head. His 21st century practice has less to do with placing the unfamiliar under control, as it has to do with taking what is now familiar and remaking it anew.
The surfaces in these pictures pulsate as they do in the arrangement of his still lives. In these, a genre that can be characterised as unassuming is viewed through the lens of mid-20th century English painting and 19th century arts and crafts design. William Morris wallpapers are embedded into the surface of the ply. The shellac base gives a mellowing, tonal uniformity to each picture that inculcates the passing of time. Such formal devices and inclusions have a distinct purpose beyond the facility of shared recognition. Pressed into service, they form the basis of the artist's aim - to encourage conversations by creating well resolved and playful pictures.
Rodney James, excerpts from text commissioned for ‘John Baird: Still Lifes and Otherwise’, Arthouse Gallery, Sydney, Feb-March 2025
Please join us for the launch of the artist's exhibition on Saturday, 30 May 2026, 2-
4pm.
[Lennox St Gallery gratefully acknowledges excerpts from 'Port Jackson, Still Life
and Otherwise', by Rodney James, 2025].
