DONALD BAECHLER
Donald Baechler's (1956–2022) world is full of contrasts and contradictions. His works excude a directness and an almost childlike naïvety, at the same time as the well built-up backgrounds of collages and multiple layers speak of a conscious and methodical process of working. In paintings and collages, he incorporated scribbles and found objects. Simple and everyday subjects such as flowers, trees, balls and boys were painted with quick and direct brushstrokes and received icon status as they were again and again repeated and modified from work to work. With humor and also a certain amount of melancholy, Baechler implemented in his work the dream of the child's curiosity and undestroyed capacity of creation and outlook on life.
Donald Baechler was exhibited for the first time in 1981 when Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York showed his works together with those of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. His oeuvre spanned over paintings, collages, prints and sculptures.
Donald Baechler, born 1956 in Hartford, CT, lived and worked in New York. Donald Baechler attended the Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore (1974–77); Cooper Union, New York (1977–78) and Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main (1978–79).
Donald Baechler’s work has been shown at Cheim & Read, New York; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris and Salzburg; Maruani Mercier, Brussels; Chelsea Art Museum, New York; Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York; Albertina, Vienna; Orlando Museum of Art; Gagosian Gallery, New York; Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York; Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin; Centre George Pompidou, Paris; Merano Arte, Italy; Museum der Moderne, Salzburg; Galerie Alain Noirhomme, Brussels; Baldwin Gallery, Aspen; Galerie Bernd Klüser, Munich; Galleria Cardi & CO, Milano; Lars Bohman Gallery, Stockholm, among others.
Donald Baechler’s work is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Philadelphia Museum; Centre George Pompidou and Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris, among other institutions worldwide.
DONALD BAECHLER OBITUARY – THE GUARDIAN
DONALD BAECHLER OBITUARY – THE TELEGRAPH