“A cornucopia of Baptist’s work, old and new, demonstrating particular concerns that have recurred in different guises over some 60 years of his impassioned paintings and prints. Some of these ongoing themes include searing images, laced with ironic, acerbic humour, about the dark sides of mass-consumerism and uncontrolled waste; ever-increasing levels of pollution of the Earth’s land, sea and air alongside the increasing realities of climate change and its attendant diminution of the world’s insect populations; the tragedy and futility of war; biblical and (Western and Eastern) mythological imagery with modern, unexpected twists; and an unalloyed delight in the wonders of nature and the glories of English gardens.”

Anne Desmet RA, artist, writer and former Editor of Printmaking Today

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star”

Nietzche

“When I was young in India, I used to enjoy looking at the maps in a history book in my Father’s library, which showed where nations and their rulers had spread across Europe and the Middle East, centuries ago.  They created the foundations of so much we know today.

Now, much later in life, I wanted to try capture the excitement that I found years ago; just a blissful fantasy of what life could be on our earth.”

Gerry Baptist

“These joyful images honour the permanent elements in our relationship to the land itself. At the same time a sense of movement is created across the land by lines which describe suggested journeys – and it is these arbitrary moments that Baptist has contained in colour and shape and made important whilst the spirit of the land mass is ever present beneath.

All is motion. Energy and colour pulse, strong with life’s possibilities.”

Nancy Brenner, Writer

“Baptist mentioned that plants behave in much the same way as humankind, strangling and smothering rivals in the rat race for position and food.

He was especially struck by this idea, he explains, having made the beautiful series of paintings and woodcuts, ‘Mysteries of an English Garden’. Now, a man as well informed as Baptist knows that a meditation on the English pastoral should point to Eden, not Dawkins.

But it is typical of Baptist’s pattern of thought that, within the famed arbour of the English garden, he finds himself marvelling at the mysteries of DNA, simply doing its job; all that struggle behind all that beauty.”    

Mike Sims

"I began using Photoshop and Illustrator in the 1980s. At first, I didn’t even understand what the on-screen commands meant—it was a steep learning curve. A real struggle. I figured things out through trial and error, instruction manuals, and by asking questions. It was fascinating. Discovering the graphic tablet was a breakthrough for me; drawing digitally gave me an incredible sense of freedom. There’s a wonderful immediacy to it. Once you grasp some of the technical side, a whole new creative world opens up. The colours vibrate, the pen glides effortlessly—it's simply, just another way of making images."

GB

“In the early ‘70s I used a photographer, Bob Richards, when working on various projects. Bob had written a series of short poems and asked me to illustrate them, which I found an interesting idea. At the time, I had moved away from Abstract Expressionism and began drawing in a tight graphic style using graphite lead pencils. And as I did in my advertising days, I worked in the evenings. Inspired by Bob’s poems, I drew a number of them. Then he suddenly announced he was off to live in New York and asked if he could take some of the drawings with him to try to find a publisher… We lost touch of course, and I lost the poems, but I just like the remaining drawings.”

GB

“We are the first generation that has a clear picture of the value of nature and the grave situation we are facing. We may also be the last generation that can do something about it.”

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)

“Insects could vanish within a century at the current rate of decline.”

Global Review

“Much of the gusto so clearly in evidence in Gerry Baptist’s images seems to derive from his mocking and satirical bent. The Burgergate series is a wonderfully rumbustious satire on our appetite for what’s bad for us, a lubricious over-indulgent pile-up of high art and poor taste.”       

Mike Sims                                                  

“Maggie Thatcher opened up the markets in the City of London. Money was God – hence, ‘Photo call at The Last Supper’.

It is all too easy to comment on waste. Just being a human is to be a waste-making machine- and there are billions of us using up the world’s resources. People are pollution. And a Black Bin Bag sums it up.”

GB

The Bin Bag is a recurring motif in this series, a signifier of mass consumption, over-production, planned obsolescence, the glut of disposable packaging and other traits of our late-capitalist, throw-away culture.”

Geraint Evans, artist and Pathway Leader for MA Fine Art Painting at Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London

“In the biblical story, Salome's lust for the prophet, John the Baptist, is so obsessive and overwhelming that, because she is humiliated by his rejection, she is willing to have him killed so that she can possess him. Oscar Wilde wrote a play about the story and Richard Strauss composed a one-act opera. After the Dance of the Seven Veils, Salome demands the prophet’s head as her prize. There is a mixture of romance bubbling with lust, religious values and astonishing expectations, which give this story a hedonistic appeal. She could so easily be part of our consumer society, forever grasping for more.”

GB

“The ‘primrose path’ was described by Shakespeare as a path of pleasure (“the primrose path of dalliance,” Hamlet, 1.3) and this is indeed reflected in the bright and joyful imagery of Baptist’s Paintings. Throughout this series, there are echoes of Matisse’s cut-outs in the vibrant painted shapes that reduce the figures to their absolute essentials.”

Geraint Evans

At The London School of Printing and Graphic Art, our Graphics tutor, George Adams, who was trained at the Bauhaus, provided a solid foundation that has supported me throughout my career. Our painting tutor, Gerrard de Rose, approached his teaching in a different and philosophical way. I can still hear his words: “Paint the truth, paint the truth!” — they continue to resonate with me even now.

A few years ago, I rediscovered a series of felt pen drawings which I did the 1960s. I painted many large oils too. I vaguely recall thinking of them as “Guardians” — powerful, towering beings, meant to protect us. But protect us from what? The world felt full of promise in the 60s, and the idea of needing protection seemed unnecessary. So, I burned the paintings.

Those drawings later inspired my Guardian Heads series — almost like warriors, standing tall in the landscape, trying to shield us from our own self-destructive behaviour. Alongside them, I imagined Earthly Warriors tasked with protecting the Guardians themselves. This became a spiritual body of work, which should remain intact as a complete set!

I envision these monumental heads placed in the countryside, serving as sentinels — warning us of the path we’re on.

GB

What could I make of this mixture of science and nature in this very special garden, hidden from the hustle and bustle of London? There was an atmosphere of past times, which held my interest: possibly some of the plants were really ancient. A fantasy maybe, but just maybe, some originally came from the Garden of Eden? Hence Chelsea Physic Garden of Eden.

So, here are Adam and Eve living in the garden, from a 21^st century perspective.”

GB

“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest; it is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”

David Attenborough