Sarah Baker 

BEARSPACE presents Sarah Baker

BEARSPACE presents ‘Studs’, a new video installation by Sarah Baker. Inspired by a Jackie Collins novel, ‘Studs’ portrays three characters whose futile relationship is entwined in greed and manipulation. There is a somber insinuation of lonely reflection amongst this vision, however luxuriously grandiose. ‘Studs’ is a development of Baker’s current interest in deconstructing narrative in moving image; continuity is severed and the story relies on mere implication.


Baker has unconventionally cast three performers with real-life significance to decipher each role for ‘Studs’. The players are Bill May, hunk synchronized swimmer; Wes Studi, Cherokee Hollywood legend; and Sarah Baker herself, persistent in her illusion of vicious sovereign. These contrasting people are brought together under the guise of a unified structure, however their differences continually struggle to break the surface of assimilation.


To create ‘Studs’, London based Baker traveled to Las Vegas and Santa Fe to film her subjects. During her travels throughout the American Southwest, Baker intercepted Jackie Collins’ book tour at a casino on the Maricopa Indian Reservation in Arizona. Baker interviewed Collins, asking her to describe The Stud (1969); Collins’ seminal novel that Baker’s installation ‘Studs’ is based. Collins says of one character, “She is a woman who’s completely obsessed with herself and what she can get out of life. She is a consumer in every way. She wants the best men; to her it’s a game and she plays with The Stud.”


This exhibition is part of the 10th year anniversary of Deptford X 26 September – 18 October 2008. ‘Studs’ is included in the programme ‘Ghost Trade and the Spectre of Change’ curated by Julia Alvarez; along side artists Nicky Hirst, Leo Fitzmaurice, Yinka Shonibare, Matt Stokes, Helen Barff and Fran Cottell. Deptford X 10th anniversary will be exploring the context of currency in Deptford. For further details please visit www.deptfordx.org.
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