Biography
Carrie Ann Baade (b. 1974, Louisiana) is an American painter whose work deeply engages with art history. By quoting, reinterpreting, and reclaiming masterpieces, she constructs surreal, biographical narratives that bridge the past and present. Through intricate visual storytelling, Baade explores themes of transformation, mortality, sexuality, and the darker facets of human nature, weaving together personal and classical symbolism.
Raised on the Front Range of Colorado, Baade earned her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, studied at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy, and completed her MFA at the University of Delaware. Since 2007, she has been a Professor of Art at Florida State University.
Since 2005, Baade has presented over 30 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 250 group exhibitions worldwide. Her work has been featured at major art fairs, including the LA and SF Art Fairs and Art Capital in Paris, as well as in museums across Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States.
Recognized for her artistic contributions, Baade has received numerous accolades, including the Halo Fellowship Award, the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs Individual Artist Fellowship, and the Delaware Division of the Arts Established Artist Award in Painting. Her work has been featured in Forbes and in leading art publications such as Juxtapoz, Hi-Fructose, and American Art Collector. Exhibiting alongside visionary artists like H.R. Giger and Robert Williams, she continues to push the boundaries of narrative painting, challenging artistic conventions and inspiring both her students and the broader contemporary art world.
Her monograph, Scissors and Tears (2022, La Luz de Jesus Press), provides an in-depth look at her creative process and two decades of allegorical art.
CARRIE ANN BAADE
Born in Louisiana, 1974
Lives and works in Havana, Florida
Education
2003 MFA, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
1997 BFA, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 1995-6 Florence Academy of Art, Florence, Italy
Professional Experience
2007–Present Professor of Art, College of Fine Arts, Florida State University
Honors, Awards, and Prizes
First Prize, Juror Elizabet Elliot, Pensacola Museum of Art (2021)
Purchase Award, Winners XX, Biggs Museum of American Art (2021)
Guest of Honor, Dreams and Divinities, International Festival of Arts, Chimeria, Sudan, France (2018)
Guest of Honor, International Festival of Arts and Sciences Visionaries, Chimeria Sudan, France (2018)
Guest of Honor, Dragon Con, Atlanta, GA (2013)
Nominated for the Painters and Sculptors Grant Program, Joan Mitchell Foundation (2012).
Nominated for the United States Artists Award (2006).
Delaware Division of the Arts Honorable Mention for Emerging Artist in Painting (2004).
Fellowships
Halo Fellowship Award (2025)
Nominated for the Joan Mitchell Fellowship (2022)
Florida State Division of Cultural Affairs Individual Artist Fellowship (2009–2010).
Delaware Division of the Arts Fellowship for Established Artist in Painting (2005–2006).
University of Delaware Calloway Magness Fellowship (2001–2003)
Solo
Group (Selected Exhibitions)
2024
Comparaisons: "Visionary Realists," Grand Palais, Paris, France: Art Capital.
Tarot in the Castle, Naia Museum of Art, Rochefort-en-Terre, France: Dreams & Divinities.
Magical Dreams VII, Galeria Sopra, Wrocław, Poland: Bator Art Gallery.
San Francisco Art Fair: 12th Edition, San Francisco, CA: John Natsoulas Gallery.
Four the Figure, Davis, CA: John Natsoulas Art Center.
Magical Dreams VII, Rzeszowski Dom Sztuki, Rzeszów, Poland: Bator Art Gallery.
The Tree and the Tarot, Le Galerie 18bis, Paris, France: Dreams & Divinities.
LA ART SHOW [Art Fair], Los Angeles, CA: John Natsoulas Gallery.
2023
In.Visible, Bascom Center for the Visual Arts, Highlands, NC
Lost Chapters, University Museum, Sacred Heart University, New Haven, CT
Spiritual Visions, The Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery, St. Louis, MO
2022
Boundary Strider, Wollongong Art Gallery (museum), Wollongong, Australia
A New Renaissance, Le Moyne Center, Tallahassee, FL: COCA.
Magical Dreams VI, Hopfenmuseum, Wolnzach, Germany
Ancestral Transmission, Art Nunz Collective, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
Is This Too Much, Le Mieux Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Surreal Salon IV, (guest of honor juror) Baton Rouge Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA
2021
Representational Fantastic, Kirkland Art Center, Kirkland, WA
Artfields, Lake City, SC
2020
RBL GRL | Revolution Doesn’t Ask Permission, Thomas Center, Gainesville, FL
Magical Dreams V, Centrum Promocji Kultury Warszawa Praga Południe, Warsaw, Poland
B20: Wiregrass Biennial, Dothan, AL
Entintada Estampada, Casa De la Cultura, De Quart de Poblet, Valencia, Spain: UPV Universitat Politècnica de València.
Award Winners XX, Biggs Museum of American Art, DE
Emergence, Laxenburg Castle, Vienna, Austria
2019
Sugar Coated Strange, Pop Gallery, Sante Fe, NM
Self-Portrait, Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA
Educators As Artists, Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA
2018
Apparitions, Kirkland Art Center, Seattle, WA
On Adornment, Pen + Brush, New York City, NY
Pittura Narrativo, Gallery of Western Colorado State University, Gunnison, CO
Magical Dreams IV, Centrum Promocji Kultury Warszawa Praga Południe, Warsaw, Poland
International Festival of Arts and Sciences Visionaries, Guests of Honor, Chimeria Sudan, France
2017
AltRealities. SRP Gallery, Mesa Contemporary, Mesa, AZ
Visionary Alchemy. One Space, New York, NY
Angels, Totems, and Revelations. Krab Jab, Seattle, WA
2016
5th Annual Beinart Collective, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Inaugural Exhibition, Beinart Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Peace Across Europe, Flox Gallery, Dresden, Germany
Portraits of Friends. Modern Eden, San Francisco, CA
2015
Back and Forth: A Dialog in Paint. Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL
Garden of Fernal Delights, BASH, San Francisco, CA
Dreams & Divinities, Amon Ra Gallery, Monterrey, Mexico.
2014
Phantastische Venus, City Hall, Viechtach, Germany
Where you Stay At? Ten Gallery, New Orleans, LA: Prospect 3.
FEMME SHOW, Pop Gallery, Santa Fe, NM.
Hidden Kingdoms, Dream Factory, Frankfurt, Germany.
Dreams and Divinities, Santo Domingo Museum, San Cristóbal, Mexico.
International Festival of Arts and Sciences Visionaries, Chimeria, 2014, Sedan, France.
-2013
¡Orale! Kings and Queens of Cool, Mandelman-Ribak Gallery, Lowbrow Insurgence, Harwood Museum, Taos, NM
Four Dreamers, Espace D’Art Mompezat, Paris, France
Messin’ with the Masters, Mesa Fine Art Center, Phoenix, Arizona
Beautiful Strange, Clement Art Gallery, Troy, NY (catalog)
Dreams and Divinities, Instituto America de Santa Fe, Granada, Spain (book)
Dreams and Divinities, LaPorte Soleil, Paris, France
Dreams and Divinities, Inglesia San Marcos, Toledo, Spain
Dreams and Divinities, Churianna Cultural Center, Granada, Spain
2012 Fractal Nation [Art Festival], Tribe 13 Art Collective, Burning Man Festival, Black Rock City, NV
Awakened, AFA Gallery, New York City, NY
SCOPE [Art Fair]. Basel, Switzerland: Mindy Solomon Gallery
Taboo, curated by Jon Beinart, Last Rites Gallery, NYC
Man, Myth, Or Monster, Le Mieux Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Visionaries; Past, Present, and Future, curated by France Garrido, Queensborough Community College Art Gallery, Bayside, NY (catalog)
Detailed Information, Mindy Solomon Gallery, St.Petersberg, FL
From What I Remember /From What I Forget, Broadstreet Invitational at Principal Gallery, Alexandria, VA
GOTHIC, Curated by Amy V. Grimm, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA (catalog)
2011 Verge Art Brooklyn (art fair), Brooklyn, New York
25th Anniversary, La Luz de Jesus, Los Angeles, CA (book)
Dystopia, curated by Jon Beinart, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
INLE, curated by Greg Simkins, 1988 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Suggestivism, curated by Greg Escalante and Nathan Spoor, Grand Central Art Center, Santa Monica, CA (book)
Believe it or Not, curated by Catherine Bergmann, Dunedin Art Center, Dunedin, FL
2010 Draw, curated by Eric Foss. Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
The Idol Hours, London Miles Gallery, London, UK
Award Winners X, curated by Ryan Grover, Biggs Museum of American Art
In Canon, Curated by Margaret Winslow, Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington, DE
Low Brow Tarot Show, curated by Aunia Kahn, La Luz Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Lead Poisoning, curated by Jason D’Aquino, Last Rites Gallery, New York, NY
Hunt and Gather, Think Space, Los Angeles, CA
Another Road Side Attraction, ISE Cultural Foundation, NYC
2009 Beyond Eden Art Fair at Barnsdale, Los Angeles, CA
In Your Dreams, curated by Edward Sullivan of NYU, Pen and Brush Society, New York, NY
Super School, curated by Lola, Copro Nason, Santa Monica, CA
Fata Morgana, curated by Pam Grossman, Debora Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Sugar Coated Strange, Pop Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2008 Aqua Art Fair, Billy Shire, Miami, FL
Subversion, Pop Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
13th Hour, Last Rites, New York, NY
Art Encounter 2008, Juror: Brian Dursum, The von Liebig Art Center, Naples, FL
Deep Pop: a survey of Pop Surrealism, curated by Andrew Michael Ford, Iona College, New Rochelle, NY
2007 Bridge Art Fair: Chicago, London, and Miami, Billy Shire Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
“Talking Board Show,” Copro Nason Galley, Santa Monica, CA
Objective Reality, Harold Golen Gallery, Miami, FL
New Talent, Billy Shire Fine Art, Culver City, CA
ISM: Untitled Love Project Phases 2/3, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, CA
Draw, curated by Eric Foss, traveling exhibit: New York, Austin, London, and Tokyo
Kitschen Sync, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Dark Hearts and Broken Vows, Strychnin Gallery, New York, NY
2006 Fresh Meat, Roq La Rue, Seattle, WA
Undertow, curated by Alix Sloan, Metalstone Gallery, New York, NY
Animals in Art, Curated by Susan Isaacs, Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington, DE
Delaware Women's Conference Exhibition, Biggs Museum, Dover, DE
DDA Award Winners, Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, DE
2004 US Artists: American Fine Art Show, 33rd Street Armory, Philadelphia, PA
New Talent Show, Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Interactive Performance Art
2019 “Three Fates,” Goddess Lounge, Rail Road Square Art Park Events, Tallahassee, FL
2017 “Past, Present, Future,” Goddess Lounge, Rail Road Square Art Park Events, Tallahassee, FL
2015 “Dark Pope,” Art Nunz, Aquarium Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2013 “Ritual in Black and White,” Art Nunz, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
2011 “Tarot Passport,” Pyramid Players, Rail Road Square Art Park Events, Tallahassee, FL
Exhibitions Curated
2016 Cute and Creepy, Valdosta College, Valdosta, GA
2013 Cute and Creepy, Longview Art Museum, Longview, TX
2011 Cute and Creepy, Florida State Museum, Tallahassee, FL
30th Anniversary Exhibition, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
Invited Lectures
Permanent Collections
University of Delaware
Radcliff University
Biggs Museum of American Art
Billy Shire
Contact: [email protected]
Artist Statement
As the steward and axman, I return to haunting moments in art history to pick through the “boneyard” of painting with reverence. I am a scavenger salvaging lost aesthetics seeking to reclaim, not merely as a quotation. Composing with a woman’s voice, the oil painting is the basis for dialog with the art’s past through complex imagery that unburdens the restrictions of a feminist psyche. These are paintings made of paintings, fractured and altered to bare my psychological revelations and exhumed life lessons.
Mining imagery from Renaissance and Baroque paintings, these fragments provide a foundation to construct layered narratives that resemble fantastical parables. The compositions combine personal and classical symbology with luminescent color, communicating themes of mortality, sexuality, personal transformation, and the darker side of human nature. Rejecting the rational vision of life, this artwork values the magic of the subconscious and the strange beauty in the unexpected, the uncanny, the disregarded, and the unconventional.
Working in egg tempera and oil, the methods employed are based on old master processes. I typically depict the world realistically and then subvert and distort it so that I may construct a strong sense of narrative and meaning. Each composition becomes a dense meta-narrative, made cognizant by unraveling and reweaving religious and mythological iconography.
Carrie Ann Baade’s work has been described by Curator of Contemporary Art Margaret Winslow as “autobiographical parables combining fragments of Renaissance and Baroque religious paintings, resulting in surreal landscapes inhabited by exotic flora, fauna, and figures.” The context and the compositional building blocks of her work are fragments of historical masterpieces, which Baade reinterprets using her original feminist and autobiographical perspective.
Ref: Wikipedia