Firelei Báez (born 1981) is a

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

-born,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based artist known for intricate works on paper and canvas, as well as large scale sculpture. Her art focuses on untold stories and unheard voices, using portraiture, landscape, and design to explore the Western canon. Báez's work has been exhibited at the New Museum, New York, NY, the

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

, Miami, Florida, Taller Puertorriqueño, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Clinton, New York, the

Drawing Center The Drawing Center is a museum and a nonprofit exhibition space in Manhattan, New York City, that focuses on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary. History The Drawing Center was founded by former assistant curator of dr ...

, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York and the Studio Museum, New York, New York, Tate Modern London. Her work was featured in the United States Biennial Prospect.3 in New Orleans, Louisiana, curated by Franklin Sirmans. She was included in Getty's Pacific Standard Time's LA>LA exhibition, the Pinchuk Art Foundation's Future Generation's Art Prize exhibition at the 2017

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

, and the 2018 Berlin Biennale. She has been the recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Award (2010), the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Award in Painting, the Catherine Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting (2015), and the Chiaro Award from the Headlands (2016). In 2015,

organized ''Firelei Báez: Bloodlines.'' The exhibition catalogue included an introduction by Franklin Sirmans, the museum director, an essay by María Elena Ortiz, an interview with Naima Keith, and a contribution by the writer

Roxane Gay Roxane Gay (born October 15, 1974) is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. Gay is the author of ''The New York Times'' best-selling essay collection ''Bad Feminist'' (2014), as well as the short story collection ''Ayiti ...

Early life and education

Báez was born in 1981 in Santiago de Los Caballeros to a Dominican mother and a father of Haitian descent, she was raised in

Dajabón Dajabón is a municipality and capital of the Dajabón province in the Dominican Republic, which is located on the northwestern Dominican Republic frontier with Haiti. It is a market town with a population of about 26,000, north of the Cordillera ...

, a market city on the Dominican Republic's border with Haiti. At the age of 8, she relocated with her family to

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, Florida. Báez moved to New York in 2001 where she then received a bachelor's degree in arts from

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-s ...

, a master's in fine arts from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

in 2010, and studied at the

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture is an artists residency located in Madison, Maine, just outside of Skowhegan. Every year, the program accepts online applications from emerging artists from November through January, and selects 65 ...

Career

Báez works as an artist, and is based in

. She is known for intricate works on paper and canvas, as well as large scale sculpture and installation. In 2012, she began to create her ink and acrylic paintings on Yupo paper because of its nonabsorbent properties. Starting around 2017, the artist has directed her practice towards large scale works in which she directly paints onto various archival materials such as maps and architectural renderings. Her art explores the

Western canon The Western canon is the embodiment of High culture, high-culture literature, music, philosophy, and works of art that are highly cherished across the Western culture, Western world, such works having achieved the status of classics. Recent ...

through the elements of non-Western reading. Báez references various aspects of visual, material, and popular culture to represent the body in ways that challenge racial and class structures. She credits the work of

David Hammons David Hammons (born July 24, 1943) is an American artist, best known for his works in and around New York City and Los Angeles during the 1970s and 1980s. Early life David Hammons was born in 1943 in Springfield, Illinois, the youngest of ten ...

as first sparking her interest in using art to abstract and visualize Black and Brown bodies while simultaneously conveying their lived experiences. Báez also notes that science fiction writing of

Octavia E. Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer who won several awards for her works, including Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to recei ...

has always inspired themes of

Afrofuturism Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture ...

in her work, so much so that she paints a replication of Butler's

Parable of the Sower (novel) ''Parable of the Sower'' is a 1993 speculative fiction novel by American writer Octavia E. Butler. It is set in a Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic Earth heavily affected by climate change and social inequality. The novel ...

in her painting titled ''On rest and resistance, Because we love you (to all those stolen from among us)'' (2020). In fall of 2015, Báez had two solo museum shows ''Patterns of Resistance'' at the

Utah Museum of Contemporary Art Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the ...

and ''Bloodlines'' at

. In February 2016, Báez created a participatory installation with museum patrons at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

. The program was presented in conjunction with the exhibition "The Power of Prints: The Legacy of William M. Ivins and

A. Hyatt Mayor Alpheus Hyatt Mayor (1901–1980) was an American art historian and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a leading figure in the study of prints, both old master prints and popular prints. Biography Early life A. Hyatt Mayor's father ...

". The installation itself remained on display through March of that year.

Public art

In 2018, she was commissioned by the

Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...

to install two glass-tile platform-level murals and two mezzanine-level murals for the 163 St-Amsterdam Avenue

subway station A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase Train ticket, tickets, board trains, and Emerg ...

. The intricate, tropical patterns of the artwork, titled ''The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao'' (after a novel by

Junot Diaz Junot is a French name that may refer to the following notable people: ;Given name *Junot Díaz (born 1968), Dominican American ;Surname *Laure Junot, Duchess of Abrantes (1784–1838), French writer *Jean-Andoche Junot Jean-Andoche Junot, Duke ...

), refer to Báez' Caribbean background and to the demographics of the neighborhood. The mural imagery includes flowers and vines of tropical and North American plant species; these complex patterns are interwoven with images of "hand symbols" and female figures in the style of ''

Ciguapa The Ciguapa ( ; ) is a mythological creature of Dominican folklore. It is commonly described as having human female form with brown or dark blue skin, backward facing feet, and a very long mane of smooth, glossy hair that covers her body. Its hom ...

s'' from the folklore of the Dominican Republic. Báez describes the work as having a level of "transparency" to Dominicans in the neighborhood. The glass mosaic work was produced by Mayer of Munich based on Báez' designs.

Exhibitions

Báez has participated in several solo exhibitions and shows in the United States and internationally. Her solo shows include ''Psycho*Pomp'' (2012), Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery,

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada, United States. It is the state's flagship public university and prim ...

; ''Firelei Báez: Bloodlines'' (2015),

; ''Firelei Báez: Joy Out of Fire'' (2018),

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library of the New York Public Library (NYPL) and an archive repository for information on people of African descent worldwide. Located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) be ...

and

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

; ''The Modern Window: For Améthyste and Athénaire (Exiled Muses Beyond Jean Luc Nancy's Canon), Anaconas'' (2018-2019),

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

; and ''Firelei Báez'' (2021), ICA Watershed,

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple name chang ...

. She has also participated in a number of group shows and exhibitions, including

El Museo del Barrio El Museo del Barrio, often known simply as El Museo (the museum), is a museum at 1230 Fifth Avenue in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is located near the northern end of Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile, immediately north of the Museum of the City ...

Biennial (2011-2012),

Prospect New Orleans Prospect New Orleans is a multi-venue contemporary art event in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Prospect.1 "Prospect.1 New Orleans" ran from November 2008 to January 2009. Conceived in the tradition of the international biennials, such as the Ven ...

(2014), and the

Berlin Biennale The Berlin Biennale (full name: Berlin Biennale für zeitgenössische Kunst, Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art) is a contemporary art exhibition, which has been held at various locations in Berlin, Germany, every two to three years since 1998. ...

(2018). Her installation, ''To breathe full and free: a declaration, a re-visioning, a correction (19º36'16.9"N 72º13'07.0''W, 42º21'48.762''N 71º1'59.628''W)'', shown at the Watershed exhibit space of the Institute of Contemporary Art, was inspired by the ruins of the Sans Souci palace in Haiti. The formerly majestic mansion was constructed by the Haitian revolutionary and former slave

Henri Christophe Henri Christophe (; 6 October 1767 – 8 October 1820) was a key leader in the Haitian Revolution and the only monarch of the Kingdom of Haiti. Born in the British West Indies, British Caribbean, Christophe was possibly of Senegambian descent ...

in 1813, who had crowned himself king. Firelei Báez's work was featured in the traveling group show and accompanying publication ''Spirit in the Land'', organized by the

Nasher Museum of Art The Nasher Museum of Art (previously the Duke University Museum of Art) is the art museum of Duke University, and is located on Duke's campus in Durham, North Carolina, United States. History In 1936, art collector William Hayes Ackland wro ...

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

in 2023 and on view at the

in 2024. The show touches on aspects of her by commenting on the relationship between human bodies and the natural world. In 2024, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston is exhibiting the first major career retrospective on the work of the artist.

''Can I Pass?'' series

Every day from 2011 to 2013, Báez created self-portraits in which she would paint a silhouette of her face, head, hair, and shoulders. Each painting she created was made in a color that matched her forearm and resembled that of a paper bag. Through this color, she references the historical

Brown paper bag test "The brown paper bag test" is a term in Black oral history used to describe a colorist discriminatory practice within the Black community in the 20th century, in which an individual's skin tone is compared to the color of a brown paper bag. The ...

to spotlight the discriminatory tests and practices that have been used to classify blackness in the United States. Her attention to hairstyles in these portraits of herself also connects the silhouettes to the fan test that evolved within the Dominican Republic that associates hair which does not blow straight back with African ancestry.

Imagery, symbolism, and themes

Throughout her work, Báez references symbols and figures from Dominican folklore and history that highlight different aspects of femininity, race, power, and nature. One recurring motif in her work is the

that appeared in a series of works that she painted from 2005 to 2015. Early on in this series, Báez painted ciguapas on books that had been decommissioned from nearby libraries and went on to paint them at a much larger scale on over cavases that measure over seven feet tall. She also includes

Anacaona Anacaona (1474?–1504), or Golden Flower, was a Taíno cacica, or female ''cacique'' (chief), religious expert, poet and composer born in Xaragua. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, bohio or babeque to the Taínos (the Spaniards ...

, another significant figure in mythology and folklore from

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, in a map painting titled ''Untitled (Anacaona)'' that explores how the body can act as a symbol of resistance, independence, and struggle.

Grants, awards, and residencies

* Jacques and Natasha Gelman Award in Painting * Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Award (2010) * Catherine Doctorow Prize for Contemporary Painting (2015) * Chiaro Award from the Headlands (2016) * Future Generation Art Prize (2017). *

College Art Association The College Art Association of America (CAA) is the principal organization in the United States for professionals in the visual arts, from students to art historians to emeritus faculty. Founded in 1911, it "promotes these arts and their understan ...

Artist Award for Distinguished Body of Work (2018) * Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2019) * Soros Art Fellowship (2019) * The Herb Alpert Awards in the Arts (2020) *

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

Philip Guston Philip Guston (born Phillip Goldstein, June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980) was a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. "Guston worked in a number of artistic modes, from Renaissance-inspired figuration to formally accomplis ...

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Recipients must be American citizens. Prizes have been aw ...

for visual arts (2021)

Gallery representation

Báez has been represented by

Hauser & Wirth Hauser & Wirth is a Swiss contemporary and modern art gallery. History Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth, and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by co-president Marc Payot. In 2020, Ewan Venters was ap ...

since 2023. She previously worked with James Cohan Gallery and

Kavi Gupta Kavi Gupta is a contemporary art gallery owned by gallerist Kavi Gupta. Headquartered in the Near West Side, Chicago, West Loop neighborhood of Chicago, the gallery operates multiple exhibition spaces as well as Kavi Gupta Editions, a publishing ...

Notable works in public collections

*''Amidst the future and present there is a memory table'' (2013), Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art,

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

, Clinton, New York *''To see beyond it and to access the places that we know outside its walls'' (2015),

San Jose Museum of Art The San José Museum of Art (SJMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum in downtown San Jose, California, United States. Founded in 1969, the museum holds a permanent collection with an emphasis on West Coast artists of the 20th and 21st cent ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

*''Sans-Souci (This threshold between a dematerialized and a historicized body)'' (2015),

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

*''Of Love Possessed (lessons on alterity for G.D. and F.G at a local BSS)'' (2016), Spelman College Museum of Fine Art,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

*''To Access the Places that Lie Beyond'' (2017),

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art opened in 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. With a $5 million annual budget and approximately 75,000 visitors each year, it is Missouri's first and largest contemporary museum. Founders The core of the museum's per ...

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

*''Elegant gathering in a secluded garden (or the many bridges we crossed)'' (2018),

Studio Museum in Harlem The Studio Museum in Harlem is an African-American art museum at 144 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Founded in 1968, the museum collects, preserves and interprets art created by African A ...

*''Those who would douse it (it does not disturb me to accept that there are places where my identity is obscure to me, and the fact that it amazes you does not mean I relinquish it)'' (2018),

Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is an art museum in central Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, opened 1994. It presents modern and contemporary art and is financed by the ''Kunststiftung Volkswagen.'' It takes up aspects of the industrial city of Wolfsburg, whi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

*''An Open Horizon (or the stillness of a wound)'' (2019),

Cornell Fine Arts Museum The Rollins Museum of Art is located on the Winter Park campus of Rollins College and is the only teaching museum in the greater Orlando area. The museum houses more than 5,000 objects ranging from antiquity through contemporary eras, including ...

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

*''Tignon for Ayda Weddo (or that which a center can not hold)'' (2019),

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

*''the trace, whether we are attending to it or not (a space for each other's breathing)'' (2019),

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest art museum, fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans. It is situated within City Park (New Orleans), City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton ...

*''Untitled (Central Power Station)'' (2019),

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the A ...

*''Untitled (Tabula Anemographica seu Pyxis Navtic)'' (2021),

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

of American Art *''Olamina (How do we learn to love each other while we are embattled)'' (2022),

Selected publications

*Perez Art Museum. ''Firelei Báez : Bloodlines''. Miami, Florida: Perez Art Museum, 2015. ISBN 978-0-989854-67-2. *"Bodies of Color: Images of Women in the Works of Firelei Báez and Rachelle Mozman." Aranda-Alvarado, Rocío. ''Small Axe : a Journal of Criticism'' 21, no. 1 (2017): 57–69. https://doi.org/10.1215/07990537-3844078. *"Flora and Fauna Otherwise: Black and Brown Aesthetics of Relation in Firelei Báez and Wangechi Mutu." Alvarado, Leticia. ''Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture'' 1, no. 3 (2019): 8–24. https://doi.org/10.1525/lavc.2019.130003. * ''Firelei Báez: to breathe full and free''. Firelei Báez, David Norr, Carla Acevedo-Yates, Mark Godfrey, Legacy Russell,

Thelma Golden Thelma Golden (born September 22, 1965) is an American art curator, who is the Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City, United States. She is noted as one of the originators of the term post-blackness. From 20 ...

, Eva Respini. New York: Gregory R. Miller & Co., 2022.

References

External links

Studio Visit: Firelei Báez, MoMA Magazine
* Firelei Báez
PAMM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baez, Firelei Dominican Republic women artists Dominican Republic women sculptors Dominican Republic sculptors Dominican Republic women painters 1981 births Hunter College alumni Cooper Union alumni Living people 21st-century American women artists Hispanic and Latino American artists Mosaic artists 21st-century American sculptors Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture alumni Dominican Republic emigrants to the United States Artists from Miami People from Santiago de los Caballeros Miami Jackson Senior High School alumni Artists from New York City People from Dajabón