XAVIER BAXTER

NEW PAINTINGS marks Baxter’s first exhibition in Seoul and introduces a perceptible shift in mood. If his Cologne show Show me your soul declared a desire to reveal and to be seen, these works move instead into a darker, more nocturnal register, where light becomes a tool for psychological inquiry. The deepening of chiaroscuro signals a deliberate dialogue with the European painting tradition, particularly with the Baroque Old Masters whom Baxter regards as representing the great epoch of the European portrait. The intensified shadows and the sombre tonal range are not merely atmospheric devices; they function as an erudite citation of a technique refined to elicit strong emotions, dramatic tension and pathos. Through this heritage, Baxter invests his figures with a charged spiritual energy, as if illuminated from within.

Each painting results from a ritualised creative battle. Days are spent priming and preparing the surface so that, in an intense burst of hours, Baxter can fight for the perfect line: thick smears next to razor scrapes; a controlled blow followed by a tender caress of colour. The speed is feverish and hesitation would drain the paintings of their pulse. Wetness becomes a battleground of chance. A face that appears too calm, a gesture too legible, will be obliterated. The mission: keep the painting alive. Keep it moving. Keep it breathing.

Within these storm-driven marks, bodies lurk. They must be excavated, like ancient beings embedded in shifting sediment. A fascination from childhood when fossil hunting continues to shape his pictorial instinct. What the eye first perceives as abstraction soon reveals the unmistakable tilt of a head, the strain in a shoulder, a spine arched in effort.

Baxter’s figures precede and even dictate the environment that they come to inhabit. Their knotted extremities seem tied to a strange centrifugal force, pulling arms, heads, and legs inwards, as they attempt to defy the boundaries of the canvas. Cumulative depth ensures they dominate the composition, simultaneously grounding and suspending them in space. Despite their force, there is tenderness. Their presence suggests resilience over aggression, determination over violence. Baxter gives particular reverence to the heads which are portals to honesty. They emerge with a clarity he never overworks. Once they appear, he listens.

New elements, marks, and colour combinations appear with each glance. We, as viewers, craft our own narratives, trapped into the abundance of Baxter’s highly emotional material. He hits us hard from the distance and brings us nearer into his personal ordeal of feelings. ‘Painting for me is the ultimate test of conviction,’ says Baxter. ‘You confront yourself. You expose your soul. The work has to hit you: like something stepping out of the dark.’