Josephine Baker (b. 1990, London, UK) is a contemporary painter whose work explores the body as a site of sensation, memory and transformation. Moving between figuration and abstraction, she constructs images through layered colour, gesture and erasure, allowing forms to surface gradually rather than declare themselves. Figures often appear in flux—merging with their surroundings, dissolving into paint, or reassembling through successive marks.
Baker’s practice is grounded in material intuition. Thick passages of paint sit alongside translucent washes, creating surfaces that feel both physical and atmospheric. Colour operates as an emotional register, shifting from muted tones to sudden intensities, while composition remains open and responsive.
Rooted in painting as a form of embodied thinking, her work invites close, sustained looking. What initially reads as abstraction often reveals traces of posture, touch or movement, suggesting narratives that are felt rather than fully seen. Through this balance of presence and instability, Baker creates paintings that hold vulnerability, strength and transformation in dynamic tension.
