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Michael Baum
Biography
“Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1950, my first home
was a trailer traveling from Oklahoma to Ohio, where my family settled.
Growing up in a small, Midwestern town, I longed to see other places. Most
years, we would take driving vacations to Florida or Michigan. These early
road trips are among my fondest childhood memories and set the direction of
my life.
“In the late 1960s and early '70s, I attended
Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio studying psychology, anthropology,
and art, earning a BFA in 1973. I discovered the paintings of Edward Hopper
and the photography of Robert Frank (The Americans) whose work
started me down a road I continue to travel today.
I came to the West in 1976, seduced by the spectacular landscapes, the
big sky, and the character and diversity of the people. For more than 30
years, I have explored its mind-blowing vastness and surprising subtlety.
I live to get out on the road, explore, get overwhelmed by the landscape,
get hollowed out by the experience, take all the photos I can, make
sketches, then get back in the studio and paint. It's a great life.
Michael Baum specializes in contemporary
representational paintings of the western and southwestern landscape. He is represented in many private,
corporate, and public collections nationally and internationally.
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