Randy Baker
Since childhood, Texas artist Randy Baker has drawn and painted images of the American West. Western landscapes, wildlife and historic themes have always captured his attention and imagination. Looking at his early artwork, it’s easy to see he has not strayed far from his boyhood fascination with the West. Today, it is the created masterpieces seen in the natural world--its mountains, rivers, canyons, and prairies and the creatures that inhabit them that continue to inspire his creative passion.
An avid sportsman, the self-taught painter is often drawn to explore wild, less- traveled corners of the western landscape in search of trout, upland game and other wildlife. It is from these close encounters of the natural kind that he is inspired to record those images in his artwork.
Baker is captivated by the texture and color-tones of his western subject matter. He sees and creates in great detail. He loves the endless subtleties he sees in nature. Even the smallest details tell a story—the scarred trunk of an aspen, tracks in new-fallen snow, a broken antler tine. He paints it as he sees it. Each piece is a labor of love, taking longer than most artists’ work. But the reward is in the result and the way his style impacts the viewer.
As early as age 8, oils became his medium of choice, and he painted prolifically throughout his childhood. As a high school student, Baker sold almost every painting he produced. He was the youngest member admitted into the Houston Civic Art Association, displaying and selling his work in area exhibitions. His first gallery sale was during high school with the Sportsman’s Gallery in Houston.
A scholarship track athlete at Abilene Christian University, upon graduation, he pursued a career in retail real estate consulting. But frequent trips throughout the American West have continued to inspire his creativity.
Baker has been a cover artist in Gray’s Sporting Journal and was the featured artist in an exhibition entitled, “Wild Reaches--A Western and Wildlife Art Perspective” at Texas’ Art Centre of Plano. He is currently represented by Southwest Gallery in Dallas, Texas and Wind River Gallery in Aspen, Colorado.