Contemporary artist and designer Gary Baseman is the face of the self-coined ‘Pervasive Art’ movement, a school that seeks to collapse the boundaries between so-called high and low-brow visual cultures. Born in Los Angeles in 1960, and graduating from UCLA Cum Laude as a member of the Phi Betta Kappa Society, Baseman’s work is subtly infused with the iconography of the celeb-studded city, with the kitsch culture that characterises ‘La La Land’. Breaking down barriers, Basemen’s work frequently stages off-kilter combinations - childish characters are juxtaposed next to images of demons or naked women, religious references intertwine with the frankly irreverent, Mexican Day of the Dead symbolism crops up next to classical mythology - and so it goes. A tour de force, Baseman has received no less than three Emmy awards for his work on the animated Disney/ABC series ‘Teacher’s Pet’, and he is the legendary creator of household boardgame ‘Cranium’. Contemporary artist and designer Gary Baseman is the face of the self-coined ‘Pervasive Art’ movement, a school that seeks to collapse the boundaries between so-called high and low-brow visual cultures. Born in Los Angeles in 1960, and graduating from UCLA Cum Laude as a member of the Phi Betta Kappa Society, Baseman’s work is subtly infused with the iconography of the celeb-studded city, with the kitsch culture that characterises ‘La La Land’. Breaking down barriers, Basemen’s work frequently stages off-kilter combinations - childish characters are juxtaposed next to images of demons or naked women, religious references intertwine with the frankly irreverent, Mexican Day of the Dead symbolism crops up next to classical mythology - and so it goes. A tour de force, Baseman has received no less than three Emmy awards for his work on the animated Disney/ABC series ‘Teacher’s Pet’, and he is the legendary creator of household boardgame ‘Cranium’.
