Robert Baines: Plenitude

Robert Baines has made a name for himself across the globe not only for his research into historical goldsmithing techniques but also for his reinterpretations of them at the highest standard. His in-depth studies of archaeo-metallurgy led him to places including major American and European museums and collections. There, he explored antique Greek and Etruscan jewellery, analysed alloys, soldering techniques and fabrication processes, and adopted knowledge from the ancient masters.

Yet the artist does not see the accomplished craftsmanship of the past as a mere legacy housed in a museum; rather, he uses the techniques such as granulation as the departure point for a modern visual vocabulary. He frequently incorporates found objects like animal figurines or model cars or contrasts his delicate metal woven structures with motifs from everyday culture. In doing so, technical brilliance fuses with subtle irony – revealing a finely tuned play with our perception.

Mythological references are respected yet at the same time imaginatively deconstructed. Allusions to archaeology and art history meld to become fascinating mini narratives.
In this, Baines operates masterfully between scientific exactitude and artistic fiction. His works have the appearance of precious historical artefacts yet reveal themselves as clever commentaries on issues relating to our history, politics and present-day culture.

The monograph Plenitude documents the exceptional artistic evolution of Robert Baines based on more than 350 mostly large-format photographs, accompanied by texts from knowledgeable connoisseurs of his work.

On over 380 pages – featuring changes in paper, sheets with silver and gold grounds, and an integrated small-scale sketchbook – the opulent panorama of an artistic oeuvre unfolds before the readers’ eyes, one that conceives of history not as a rigid relict but as a living source of continual inspiration.

With the exuberant wealth of the artist’s oeuvre reflected in the red velvet cover with French-fold dust jacket, this monograph brings to life Robert Baines’s meticulous yet irrepressible approach, even in its very design.