Hello, My name is Joey Baker, I am a 23 year old Fine artist, illustrator and designer based in London, Uk. My work focuses on the meaning behind the human experience, investigating life and death and everything in between through the observation of ancient philosophies and art to modern science and math.
I studied Fine Art at Kinston University where I graduated after three years, my time spent at uni taught me a lot in the way of what sort of art I wanted to create and the philosophy I would take forward into life when I graduated. Infact my course mainly taught me what I didn’t like.... which was most of the curriculum.... three years spent creating pieces of non-functional art, sitting in seminar rooms talking about ourselves for hours with an elitist essence to the struggle we were experiencing. Meanwhile the outside world is crying out for help, people and projects are needed which can actually benefit others, I can't tell you what I learnt in the hands of the lecturers at university but I can say three years of freedom does give you time to learn skills by yourself.... I believed in the power of art as a tool for healing people and helping others, this what not something that my course at University aligned with.
When I graduated University it was scary, I was thrown out into the big wide world with a degree in Fine art as my reward.... what does that even mean? Without any industry to fall into from the course I had studied I ended up working as a chef at a pub in my hometown St Albans.
It became apparent that my next adventure was to travel, I wasn’t going to not follow my art, the very thing that has kept me sane since I was a young boy. Working 6 days a week to fulfill this dream I would paint before and after work and have one day off where I would pursue travelling into central London to search for art jobs.
It was one Monday that I had off work where I was painting murals for the late Passing clouds, one of the most beautiful community driven clubs in central London. It was here that the owner barged into where I was painting gleaming with excitement telling me and my friend of this amazing place which had just been opened up down on Kingsland Road. She was raving about a place called 'The Hive' and how this building had been donated to the community where it had already pushed its boundaries in helping the community within the first week of its existence.
I had seen a post online a few days before telling of a community centre in Dalston which was collecting donations of clothes and resources for refugees, I put two and two together and headed out down the road with my friend for some food.
When we arrived outside it definitely seemed to be the place we were looking for, art and greenery!! With various plants and flowers surrounding a bespoke seating area on the main road of a seemingly grey Dalston.... yea that was the place.
When I entered the building I was amazed, the space was incredible, with a vegan café on the first floor surrounded by people of all ages, children and elderly chatting and obviously using the space as a hub of communication and teaching. Moving further upstairs towards what was a warehouse floor whitewashed and primed for exhibition use, my brain clicked, was filled with an excitement that I rarely get and it all became apparent.... this was perfect for putting on a big exhibition.
As I hanged around to wait for the busy volunteers who organised the building to finish their work, I came into conversation with a lady who ended up asked if she could use my laptop for a presentation, they had forgotten a cable and could only use a macbook. Intrigued in what they were showing as people started filling up the building I stayed.
It was amazing, a large group of eco-friendly activists who plan eco festivals whilst also tackling some of the biggest dangers humankind faces, not each other, but corporations who are destroying the planet day by day. Watching the groups video inspired me so much in the way of taking direct action to change people's lives and yours for the better, I went back home called up various friends to organise a viewing of the space for a charity exhibition and simultaneously quit work.
The next two months was me living of the money I had saved from working as a chef organising the exhibition. I was painting, drawing throughout the week in my mums studio whilst plotting installations with my fellow friend and artist Alex Beaumont (Irieye) who I would end up exhibiting with. Infatuated by this building which had so much potential I would spend the last part of the week at The Hive, It became my new source of education. I would volunteer with helping events whilst soaking up all the information passing through the building, from teaching young kids at after school classes to workshops and exhibitions to language classes and musical events. The building was always bustling with activity.
In Buddhist symbolism the Lotus is symbolic of purity of the body and of the mind. Lotus' flowers blossom above muddy water representing pain caused by attachment and desire, symbolically meaning the light within darkness.
Joey Baker Art and Irieye present 'Lotus' a visionary art exhibition exploring the human experience through a series of paintings, prints and art installations.
Join us for a night of music and art at Hive Dalston on Friday 4th December, 7 - 11pm, Refreshments will be served, however BYOB.
With musical guests Roya Zahra Shadmand, Hib Word, Jack Chard, Memotone and Proclectic Records.
Donations will be taken on the night to raise money for The Jah People's centre of music and art in Tanzania. 10% of all art sold will also go towards the fund.
The exhibition was a success, I was blown away. Consisting of tons of actors dressed up as zombies for a music video being shot on the roof of the building, my exhibition on the 2nd floor and beneath that a feminist poetry night on the first floor the building was packed. Two months of solid work by two unknown artists had created an exhibition which housed around 400 people on its opening night. It was apparent that this was a special place for the arts, the Hive had elevated us.
Of the back of the exhibition I managed to sell some paintings and get commissioned enough work to go travelling with, I was also granted a place at a art residency programme in North Goa, India called Vaayu. An art community/ gallery / eco tourist surf school on Mandrem beach.
This led me to travel India for 6 months where I made connections with projects all around, working as a travelling artist I was able to carry on competing workshops, teaching children in the local schools, completing murals and also building and setting up art exhibitions all around India.... finally, the community artist I wanted to be was becoming a reality.
This would in turn lead to me coming back to India for a second season, but this time setting up my own art residency programme with the help of friends in Naggar, northern India called 'North'. This was my chance to give others the mind-expanding experience I had had the year before. An international art residency which aims at keeping traditional Himalayan culture alive via an experimental community of locals, artists and forward thinkers setting up workshops and masterclasses as an educational centre in the mountains, all inspired by the Hive and Vaayu.
The whole experience of the Hive was to educate, to connect people with a cultural importance. A community that helps each other and brings about an inner confidence within us all, especially within me who's confidence had been shattered by university, it showed me of the capabilities we can achieve when we work together. To elevate someone enough so that they can see that anything is possible, nothing is achieved by yourself, I will forever love the Hive and its community for the help it has given me in my career. I spread its philosophy wherever I go.
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