Erica Baum (born 1961) is an American photographer who lives and works in New York City. She is known for her work that uses printed paper and language as subject, in a form of

word art Word art or text art is a form of art that includes text, forming words or phrases, as its main component; it is a combination of language and visual imagery. Overview There are two main types of word art: *One uses words or phrases because of ...

Early life and education

Baum was born in New York City in 1961. She received a BA in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

in 1984. She also received an MA in TESOL/applied

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

in 1988, and an MFA in photography from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1994.

Work

Baum's work is characterized by a cropped, close-up style that captures the material details of subjects, ranging from chalkboards to library card catalogues, book pages and newspaper. Her composition of these details and her use of language has been compared to

concrete poetry Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct mea ...

. Baum's work is in the collections of the

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art and contemporary art. It is directly opposite Buff ...

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

and the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University. Although it embraces all cultures and period ...

, among others.

Exhibitions

* ''Foul Play'', Thread Waxing Space, New York (1999) * ''Subject Index'',

Malmö Konstmuseum Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

, Sweden (2008) * ''The Imminence of Poetics'',

São Paulo Biennial SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

(2012) * Athens Biennial (2013) * Kunstverein Langenhagen, Germany (2013) * ''Reloaded: Concrete Trends'', Weserburg Museum für Moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany (2015) * ''Photo-Poetics: An Anthology'',

, New York (2015) *''The Arcades: Contemporary Art and Walter Benjamin,''

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. Notable Jewish museums include: Albania * Solomon Museum, Berat Australia * Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourn ...

, New York (2017)

Publications

* * ''The Melody Indicator'',

Triple Canopy Triple Canopy, Inc., is an American private security company and private military company (PMC) that provides armed security, mission support, and risk management services to corporate and government clients. The firm was founded in May 2003 by ...

(2012) * ''Dog Ear,'' with

Kenneth Goldsmith Kenneth Goldsmith (born 1961) is an American poetry, poet and critic. He is the founding editor of UbuWeb and an artist-in-residence at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW) at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches. He ...

and Béatrice Gross, Ugly Duckling Presse (2011) * Sightings, One Star Presse (2011) * ''Naked Eye'', with Kenneth Goldsmith, Free Association (2009)

References

1961 births Living people American contemporary artists Barnard College alumni Hunter College alumni Yale School of Art alumni Photographers from New York City 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers 20th-century American women photographers 21st-century American women photographers {{US-photographer-stub