| Artist | Ingrid Baars | Resides | The Netherlands |
| Website | ingridbaars.com | Mediums | Photography Digital Collage |
| Print Shop | ingridbaars.com/webshop | info@ingridbaars.com | |
| Follow the Artist | Instagram | Facebook | Themes | Female beauty Black beauty Sculptural portraits Madonna’s Female portraits Origins of religion Divine feminine Mythology Spirituality |
About the artist
Ingrid Baars graduated from the Willem de Kooning Academy of Art in Rotterdam and worked as an independent illustrator and photographer, showing her work in Galleries from the year 2000 onwards.
In 2010 she halted all commercial activities and devoted herself to her artistic development.
She was nominated multiple times and published in international design and art magazines since 2005.
Her work is characterised by a photographic collage style that she kept developing throughout her career (already won her the Illustration Year Award in 1997) and became very apparent in her solo shows e.g. about Face, Inside/Outside, Artist Lovers, etc.
In 2011 Ingrid started her African series ‘Afrique’ drawn to the aesthetics of black women and classical African sculptures.
Ingrid is the 2nd Prize Winner of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, iCanvas Digital Art Award 2023.
Artwork Themes & Subject Matter
Twelve years ago, Ingrid embarked on a series of works inspired by classical African art and black women. There was no political or social agenda driving her at the time, her motivation was solely rooted in a profound fascination for the aesthetics of both.
African art, with its boundless artistic freedom in portraying the human form, served as a wellspring of inspiration for me. Additionally, the sculptural and distinctly pronounced features of black women have a profound artistic charm, which I find alluring.
As time progressed, a social element gradually interwove itself into my work when Ingrid began to receive positive and often emotionally charged responses from black men and women.
Ingrid realized her work could have an impact, that through her art she could contribute something by emphasizing the beauty of black women especially in her series of Black Madonna’s.*
This series is harking back to the tradition of the Madonna/Virgin Mary, a central figure in religious and artistic traditions for centuries.
She represents motherhood, divine grace, compassion, sacrifice and offers solace and support to those who identify with her image.
Ingrid depicts her often with tears, tears as a means of underscoring the notion that vulnerability and the expression of emotions are not indicative of weakness but rather emblematic of strength, resilience and the determination to overcome challenges.
Her process is experimental, intuitive. She does not have a preconceived notion of what the outcome will be; molding, folding, building, combining, applying streaks and blobs of color… She’s curious to discover what will happen.
“When I’m at work I become a part of it. I’m stepping into my work. I’m not fully aware of what I’m doing. I don’t have rules, nor methods. I’m observing and studying, I’m pushing myself to find an alchemy between me and my subject until I am my subject, until my soul melts into my art.”
Press
Ingrid Baars paintings have been published in notable magazines and online sources including Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, Criticaletteraria, Zaniah, Four Magazine, Shot Magazine, Upscale Living, Image, Huffington Post, Talk, Life and Artstyle Magazine, and, Villa d’Arte, Bleaq, L’Afrique, VanderLinden, Madamoiselle, Another Africa, Art and Culture, Valentine Plisnier, The Economist, The Word, ASVOF, New York Beacon, Cutting Edge, MAGMA Brand design Germany, New Industry Arts, Illusive 3, 200 Best Illustrators World Wide, All Alure, Eneco Energy Co.
Upcoming Exhibitions
| When | Exhibition | Gallery |
| August 2023 | Solo exhibition: “no name yet” | NYCH Gallery Chicago, IL. USA |
CV
Education
1992 Willem de Kooning Academy of Arts, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Solo Exhibitions
2023 NYCH Gallery, Chicago, IL. United States
2022 North Sea Jazz Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2020 NYCH Gallery, Chicago, IL. United States
2019 Studio Ingrid Baars, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2018 GAM, Kerchache/Pivaty, Paris, France
Gallery Montagut, Barcelona, Spain
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022
Storpunkt, Munich, Germany
Haute Photographie, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2021 NYCH Gallery, Chicago, IL. United States
2019
The Naked Truth, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede, The Netherlands
Joseph Gross Gallery, Crystal Streets Event, Los Angeles, CA. United States
Summer show, Montagut Gallery, Sitges, Spain
2018
Photo Beijing 2018, Image – Time, Beijing, China
FotoFever, Kerchache/Pivaty, Paris, France
Myconian collection art show, Mykonos, Greece
Joseph Gross Gallery, The Seattle Art Market Fair, Seattle, WA. United States
2017
ArtLeadHer, Lawrence Alkin Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Fayetteville Underground, Fayetteville, AR. United States
Kingwoman, Pen and Brush, New York, NY. United States
