Art & Life with Brittany Baum, Gabeaux

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Baum, Gabeaux.

Brittany, Gabeaux, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
As a little kid, both of my grandmothers, one was a cartoonist and the other a painter, saw I loved to draw and paint and encouraged me not only to make art with them, but also to aspire to be a working artist. My mom, who is also quite artistically talented, would sit with me for hours as we would made watercolor paintings and I specifically remember her taking me to the Carnegie Museum of Art while we were joining my dad on a business trip in Pittsburgh. That museum visit left a lasting impression on me and I’ve simply always wanted to be an artist since then. As I grew up I continued drawing and painting for fun (I rarely actually got to take art as an elective in school) and my mom would take us to whatever new exhibit was on show at the High Museum. By high-school I finally had art as a full time elective and went on to UGA as an art education student.

I loved teaching, but I found I was in no way suited to the demands of a class room full of middle-schoolers and art materials. More importantly, I missed making. I was so exhausted every day I quit making my own art altogether and it became a deep crisis for me. I was incredibly depressed and I quit teaching k-12. However, I didn’t go directly into making art from there. After teaching I was very jaded about “fine art” and attended Portfolio Center to study design. PC completely changed the way I approach visual communications and the kind of thinking developed during that program influences my art today. I worked as a designer in different firms around Atlanta for a few years until my husband and I became pregnant. I had planned on freelancing when the baby arrived, however, things did not go as planned. I developed a rare form of pre-eclampsia early in my pregnancy. The symptoms came on within only a few days and by the time I had made it to the doctor I was immediately admitted to the hospital where I experienced an eclamptic seizure only minutes after lying down in the hospital bed.

During that episode I nearly lost my own life and I lost my son, who couldn’t be saved. Out of that extreme grief many of my inhibitions and insecurities were stripped away. As I recovered, I realized how easy it is to lose your life, so I was going to live the rest of mind exactly how I wanted to, by finally being true to my artistic aspirations and visions. All of the reasons I had for not making art, for being afraid of trying to survive as a working artist, no longer seemed so important, and the important ones left could be managed. That all happened in late 2015, by early 2016 I started really focusing on image making, just drawing. That evolved into printmaking and painting and here I am today. All of the tragedy and failures I’ve dealt with in my career and personal life, they’ve all led to where I’m at now and I don’t regret any of it. I’m happier now as a working artist than I have ever been, and I promise that’s not hyperbole.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My art has been described as “witchy,” “creepy,” “super-detailed,” and my favorite, “femme-punk.” I make very detailed, although not necessarily photo-realistic, ink drawings that I then develop into serigraphs (screen-printing but for fine limited-edition prints.) I have a deep curiosity for mythology, theology, ancient history and all things weird (think, occult, spiritualism, aliens, real life Southern Gothic figures, etc.) and those interests definitely work their way into my imagery. I also do what seems like an un-godly amount of daydreaming and zoning out. This may sound weird, but I get a lot of my imagery from just letting my mind wonder and from dreams. The mural I recently completed with Forward Warrior partly came from a blue skinned woman who spoke to me in a dream. And now I sound crazy, haha.

I’m involved in the entire art making and production process, from envisioning each piece, drawing it to printing the layers of color on my single-color DIY screen-printing press I built. I carry a sketchbook around with me literally everywhere so I can try to capture ideas that come to me. It’s really hard for me to just sit down and draw new visual content, it just comes to me often while I’m doing something else or as I just described, day-dreaming.

The messages I work with most seem to keep coming back to mortality and the experience of being in a female body. My own body has failed me so spectacularly in the past that I think it’s only natural my art ends up being about that some of the time. I also work with ideas or concepts I’ve become interested in. For example, I’ve been working through a project about the zodiac that involves very specific symbolism, color palettes and repetitive information across a series to help educate the viewer on what I’ve learned about the mythology and practices involving the zodiac without a single word.

Overall, I really love making art that’s about darkness, mythology and strength. Although most of my images start pretty selfishly, as in, I want to see this thing, I often find by the end of my making process I have an idea of what the viewer might take away from each piece. I want people to confront and accept their own darkness, their inner strength or even their weirdness. I want them to know these things are ok and an important part of being a person! I also make a lot of images that involve aggressive or confrontational imagery of women. I think the purpose of that imagery is pretty straight forward. I want other women and non-binary identifying folks to feel empowered and strong, to reach deep into themselves and realize they have the audacity to challenge the hurdles the world places in front of us.

Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
Continue making your art, even if it’s just a little bit at a time. The practice of working on your art very regularly keeps you consistent, growing and affirms your abilities and identity as an artist. Also, fail. Fail a lot and don’t beat yourself up when things don’t go as you first envisioned. New and exciting ideas, styles and opportunities can’t always be planned and in what you might perceive as failure is an opportunity for positive change. Most importantly, and related to both of my previous points, is don’t fall victim to your insecurities. The anger and jealousy that arises from insecurity can initially be a driver to make things, but often results in unnecessary suffering which will affect your work. Make all the time, take risks and be confident.

Personally, I wish I had believed in my abilities as an artist and the possibility to make it into an actual career at an earlier age. The fear of failing to make money, having the content and messaging of my art being rejected and simple discouragement kept me from really being serious about my art immediately after college.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I just completed a mural in Cabbage town with Forward Warrior and I have two smaller public art pieces in Little Five Points and Decatur (in front of Java Lords and on Church St) as part of the Look Up projects.

This August I’ll have a series of mixed media woodcut outs hanging in Diesel Filling Station and my prints, patches and pins are for sale at Paris on Ponce. My portfolio and online shop can be found at gabeaux.net.

Although I’m taking a short break this Summer to focus on new work, I’ll be selling my prints and wearables at various fests and markets starting in August and going through the holidays. I also have some availability for commissioned illustrations and art.

If you are interested in following my process and the development of my art you can follow me at @gabeaux on Instagram.

Contact Info:

• Website: gabeaux.net
• Phone: 770-652-3955
• Email: brittany@gabeaux.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabeaux/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabeauxart/

Image Credit:
All images by me

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