Bai Bautista-Buckingham navigates using humor as a crutch while attempting to remain earnest through sculptures, installations, and paintings. Throughout her practice BautistaBuckingham utilizes religious iconography and Y2K aesthetics to question our societal hyperindependent, hyper-consumerist values and how they often come at the cost of sincerity, intimacy, and empathy. To a similar effect, her paintings and sculptures often reference pop culture or familiar and nostalgic items that reinforce aspects of cultural identity. The paintings range from colorful, crowded group portraits to studies of fabric that border on abstraction. Bautista-Buckingham’s text-based works, as well as found object sculptures, are inspired by the visual language of Jenny Holzer and Felix Gonzalez-Torres.
Artist Statement
Bai Bautista-Buckingham is a Chicago-based, Arizona-born, interdisciplinary artist working primarily in sculpture, mixed-media installation, and painting. Her practice varies in theme, but currently explores interactivity and levels of engagement across media. Bautista-Buckingham received her BFA in Fine Arts from Columbia College Chicago in 2024. She was a recipient of the Pougialis Fine Art Award in 2022 and had a two-person show, Trust Visions, with James Ross in the Arcade Gallery in 2023. In 2024 Bautista-Buckingham also exhibited work in the group exhibition After Everything in Columbia College Chicago’s Hokin Gallery.
Bio
