Gary Baseman
Encyclopedia
Gary Baseman is a contemporary artist who works in various creative fields, including illustration
, fine art
, toy design
, and animation
. He is the creator of the Emmy-winning ABC/Disney
cartoon series, Teacher’s Pet
, and the artistic designer of Cranium
, a popular board game. Baseman’s aesthetic combines iconic pop art
images, pre- and post-war vintage
motifs, cross-cultural mythology
and literary and psychological archetypes. He is noted for his playful, devious and cleverly named creatures, which recur throughout his body of work.
Baseman’s art is frequently associated with the lowbrow
pop movement, also known as pop surrealism.
of Los Angeles
. He is the fourth child of Holocaust survivors from Poland and Russia. Baseman's mother worked at the famous Canter’s Deli and his father was an electrician. Baseman cites Warner Bros.
cartoons, MAD Magazine, and Disneyland as early sources of inspiration. In junior high school, Baseman met Barry Smolin
, who is now a radio host and musician, and Seth Kurland, a writer and TV producer. They remain close friends.
art world, he is also situated within an international cultural movement that includes both mainstream and underground
artists. Baseman cites Yoshitomo Nara
, Takashi Murakami
, and the illustrator William Joyce
as contemporaries.
Baseman coined the term pervasive art as an alternative to the lowbrow art label. Baseman uses the term didactically to describe a broad shift in his and others’ work to more visible avenues of art-making. He has stated that his goal is to “blur the lines between fine art and commercial art
.” According to Baseman, pervasive art can take any medium, and need not be “limited to one world, whether [that] is the gallery world, editorial world, or art toy world.”
Today, artists whom Baseman might refer to as pervasive are part of a larger movement with a recognizable “pop
” sense, but not necessarily a shared artistic mission. However, by virtue of where these artists are shown and in what ways they garner public attention, it can be said that all pervasive artists in some way play with the boundaries between high and low art.
Among artistic peers, critics, and Baseman followers, pervasive art refers to an aesthetic that was, until recently, limited to the mediums of album art, comic books, cartoons, graffiti
, and specialty galleries. Now, pervasive art is largely realized in multiple mediums and across a range of industries, from fashion design
, advertising
and graphic design
, to toy design
, film
, music collaboratives, and music videos.
Cult-status street artists like Banksy
, new wave comics
illustrators like Gary Panter
, Japanese pop art
ists, post-punk
and hip hop
artists, and iconic graphic artists
like Shepard Fairey
all contribute to a highly visible aesthetic that is virtually ubiquitous in contemporary culture.
Baseman himself exemplifies pervasive art in that he works commercially and also remains an independent artist. While he creates products that are sold to a mass market, he also shows in museums and galleries, selling original artworks to collectors. Baseman employs traditional art practices such as painting
, printmaking
, sculpture
, drawing
, and collage
. For Baseman, being a pervasive artist means staying true to a particular message and aesthetic no matter the medium employed.
in New York
. He established himself during this period as an in-demand artist with a unique visual sense and the ability to generate sharp, intimate messages. Baseman earned several awards from American Illustration, Art Directors Club, and Communication Arts
. Baseman refers to his illustration work, and to his general process, as message-making.
Baseman’s drawings have been published in The New Yorker
, The Atlantic Monthly
, Clutter Magazine
, Time
, Rolling Stone
, The New York Times
, and The Los Angeles Times. He has had major independent and corporate clients such as AT&T
, Gatorade
, Nike, Inc.
, and Mercedes-Benz
. One of Baseman's most lauded endeavors in illustration is the best-selling board game Cranium
. After ten years in New York, Baseman returned to Los Angeles to explore opportunities in art and entertainment.
, the Clayton Brothers
, and Eric White
made similar moves. Since then, Baseman has shown in close to twenty independent exhibitions, notably, "Happy Idiot and Other Paintings About Vulnerability" at the Earl McGrath Gallery in New York City; "For the Love of Toby" at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Los Angeles; "I Melt in Your Presence" at the Modernism Gallery in San Francisco; and "Hide and Seek in the Forest of ChouChou," also at Billy Shire.
Baseman has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the US and in Brazil, Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia, Spain, and Taiwan. Baseman’s work is featured in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery
in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art in Rome.
, clothing, handbags, and other accessories
. Prominent characters include Toby, the “best friend and the keeper of your dirty lil’ secrets”; Hotchachacha, “the little devil who steals haloes”; and ChouChou, who “dispels hate and fear, and oozes Creamy Gooey Love.”
For toy, figurine, and limited edition projects, Baseman has collaborated with Critterbox, Double Punch, Toy2R
, and Kidrobot
. Fashion collaborations include Swatch, Hobbs & Kent, Harvey’s, Poketo
, and Frau Blau.
, about a dog who dresses as a boy because he wants to go to school. Baseman claims the character Spot was based on his dog at the time, Hubcaps. The series aired on ABC
from 2000–2002, and the feature film of the same title came out in 2004.
The cartoon included the voice talents of Nathan Lane
, Shaun Fleming, Debra Jo Rupp, Jerry Stiller
, David Ogden Stiers, Rob Paulsen
, Mae Whitman
, and Wallace Shawn
. The film featured Kelsey Grammer
, Paul Reubens
, and Estelle Harris
.
Baseman won the Outstanding Individual Achievement Emmy for Production Design. The show won Emmy Awards for Best Daytime Animated Series 2000 and 2001; Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program: Nathan Lane; and a BAFTA Emmy for Best International Children’s Program.
to his oeuvre with "La Noche de la Fusión," a mythical holiday festival. Over two thousand attendees celebrated a melding of cultural practices and ideas. Along with games, live music, and dancers, the event featured live models in costume playing Baseman’s female characters Skeleton Girl, Hickey Bat Girl, Bubble Girl, and Butterfly Girl. Displayed at the exhibition was the Enlightened Chou, a new character inspired by Baseman’s international travels.
In June of 2010, Baseman presented "Giggle and Pop!" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
. Live action costumed ChouChous played in the La Brea Tar Pits
along with models dressed as Baseman’s Wild Girls, who were renamed "Tar Pit Girls" for the occasion. The characters performed a dance choreographed by Sarah Elgart, and the audience joined in with singer-songwriter Carina Round
, who performed a song she composed for the event.
In February 2011, Baseman had his debut live performance with the independent music band Nightmare and the Cat, featuring Sam and Django Stewart and Claire Acey, at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Dubbed the "art jockey" for the band, Baseman paints on paper, canvas, or even on the lead singer Django Stewart, while the band plays. The following March, in conjunction with the opening weekend of his solo art exhibition, "Walking through Walls," Baseman performed with the band in New York at the Hudson Hotel, Lit Lounge, and the Ace Hotel. They also performed at the HP Mobile Park at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
, fine art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
, toy design
Designer toys
Designer toys is a term used to describe toys and other collectibles that are produced in limited editions and created by artists and designers. Designer toys are made of variety of materials; ABS plastic and vinyl are most common, although wood, metal, and resin are occasionally used. The term...
, and animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
. He is the creator of the Emmy-winning ABC/Disney
Disney-ABC Television Group
Disney-ABC Television Group manages all of The Walt Disney Company's worldwide entertainment and news television properties...
cartoon series, Teacher’s Pet
Teacher's Pet (TV series)
Teacher's Pet is an American Disney animated television series about a dog who lives like a little boy. Created by Gary Baseman, Bill Steinkellner and Cheri Steinkellner and directed by Timothy Björklund, it was broadcast on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC and later Toon Disney...
, and the artistic designer of Cranium
Cranium (board game)
Cranium is a party board game based on Ludo. Whit Alexander and Richard Tait created Cranium in 1998 after Richard spent a weekend playing games with another family and recognized the need for a game involving a variety of skills. He left his job at Microsoft, convincing friend and co-worker Whit...
, a popular board game. Baseman’s aesthetic combines iconic pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
images, pre- and post-war vintage
Vintage
Vintage, in wine-making, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product . A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and...
motifs, cross-cultural mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
and literary and psychological archetypes. He is noted for his playful, devious and cleverly named creatures, which recur throughout his body of work.
Baseman’s art is frequently associated with the lowbrow
Lowbrow (art movement)
Lowbrow, or lowbrow art, describes an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California, area in the late 1970s. Lowbrow is a widespread populist art movement with origins in the underground comix world, punk music, hot-rod street culture, and other subcultures. It is also...
pop movement, also known as pop surrealism.
Childhood
Baseman was born and raised in the Fairfax districtFairfax District
Fairfax District may refer to:*Fairfax District *Fairfax District...
of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. He is the fourth child of Holocaust survivors from Poland and Russia. Baseman's mother worked at the famous Canter’s Deli and his father was an electrician. Baseman cites Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
cartoons, MAD Magazine, and Disneyland as early sources of inspiration. In junior high school, Baseman met Barry Smolin
Barry Smolin
Barry Smolin is an American radio host, teacher, composer, and writer.He is best known as the longtime host of The Music Never Stops, a psychedelic radio show on KPFK in Los Angeles, California for which Smolin won the first ever Jammy Award for "Best Radio Show" in 2000...
, who is now a radio host and musician, and Seth Kurland, a writer and TV producer. They remain close friends.
Education
Baseman studied communications at UCLA. He graduated magna cum laude as a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society.Pervasive Art
While Baseman is a figure in the Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
art world, he is also situated within an international cultural movement that includes both mainstream and underground
Underground art
Underground art, as with underground music and underground film, is a term that seeks to describe art forms that are aloof to the mainstream art world, are illegal, taboo, unconventional, rebellious or revolutionary...
artists. Baseman cites Yoshitomo Nara
Yoshitomo Nara
is a Japanese artist. He currently lives and works in Tokyo, though his artwork has been exhibited worldwide. Nara received his B.F.A. and an M.F.A. from the Aichi Prefectural University of Fine Arts and Music. Between 1988 and 1993, Nara studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, in Germany. Nara...
, Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami
is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art...
, and the illustrator William Joyce
William Joyce
William Joyce , nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, was an Irish-American fascist politician and Nazi propaganda broadcaster to the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He was hanged for treason by the British as a result of his wartime activities, even though he had renounced his British nationality...
as contemporaries.
Baseman coined the term pervasive art as an alternative to the lowbrow art label. Baseman uses the term didactically to describe a broad shift in his and others’ work to more visible avenues of art-making. He has stated that his goal is to “blur the lines between fine art and commercial art
Commercial art
Commercial art is historically a subsector of creative services, referring to art created for commercial purposes, primarily advertising. The term has become increasingly anachronistic in favor of more contemporary terms such as graphic design and advertising art.Commercial art traditionally...
.” According to Baseman, pervasive art can take any medium, and need not be “limited to one world, whether [that] is the gallery world, editorial world, or art toy world.”
Today, artists whom Baseman might refer to as pervasive are part of a larger movement with a recognizable “pop
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
” sense, but not necessarily a shared artistic mission. However, by virtue of where these artists are shown and in what ways they garner public attention, it can be said that all pervasive artists in some way play with the boundaries between high and low art.
Among artistic peers, critics, and Baseman followers, pervasive art refers to an aesthetic that was, until recently, limited to the mediums of album art, comic books, cartoons, graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
, and specialty galleries. Now, pervasive art is largely realized in multiple mediums and across a range of industries, from fashion design
Fashion design
Fashion design is the art of the application of design and aesthetics or natural beauty to clothing and accessories. Fashion design is influenced by cultural and social latitudes, and has varied over time and place. Fashion designers work in a number of ways in designing clothing and accessories....
, advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
and graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, to toy design
Designer toys
Designer toys is a term used to describe toys and other collectibles that are produced in limited editions and created by artists and designers. Designer toys are made of variety of materials; ABS plastic and vinyl are most common, although wood, metal, and resin are occasionally used. The term...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, music collaboratives, and music videos.
Cult-status street artists like Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
, new wave comics
New Wave (comics)
New Wave is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe.-Fictional character biography:Becky Jones can mentally animate and control water and can become living water. Originally a member of the nature-themed supervillain group called the Masters of Disaster.New Wave leads the team when they...
illustrators like Gary Panter
Gary Panter
Gary Panter is an illustrator, painter, designer and part-time musician. Panter's work is representative of the post-underground, new wave comics movement that began with the end of Arcade: The Comics Revue and the initiation of RAW, one of the second generation in American underground comix...
, Japanese pop art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
ists, post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
and hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
artists, and iconic graphic artists
Graphic arts
A type of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of art forms. Graphic art is typically two-dimensional and includes calligraphy, photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, lithography, typography, serigraphy , and bindery. Graphic art also consists of drawn plans and layouts for interior...
like Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey
Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary graphic designer, and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. He first became known for his "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign, in which he appropriated images from the comedic supermarket tabloid Weekly World News. His...
all contribute to a highly visible aesthetic that is virtually ubiquitous in contemporary culture.
Baseman himself exemplifies pervasive art in that he works commercially and also remains an independent artist. While he creates products that are sold to a mass market, he also shows in museums and galleries, selling original artworks to collectors. Baseman employs traditional art practices such as painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, printmaking
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
, drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
, and collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
. For Baseman, being a pervasive artist means staying true to a particular message and aesthetic no matter the medium employed.
Illustration
From 1986 - 1996, Baseman worked as an illustratorIllustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He established himself during this period as an in-demand artist with a unique visual sense and the ability to generate sharp, intimate messages. Baseman earned several awards from American Illustration, Art Directors Club, and Communication Arts
Communication Arts
Communication Arts is the largest international trade journal of visual communications. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine’s coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustration and interactive media. The magazine continues to be edited and...
. Baseman refers to his illustration work, and to his general process, as message-making.
Baseman’s drawings have been published in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
, Clutter Magazine
Clutter Magazine
Clutter Magazine is a quarterly publication that caters to the world of underground designer toys and the artists that create them. After emerging in Japan in the late 1990s, the toy scene has gone global, led by companies such as Toy2R, Kidrobot, and Medicom, and Clutter is the first English...
, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, and The Los Angeles Times. He has had major independent and corporate clients such as AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
, Gatorade
Gatorade
Gatorade is a brand of sports-themed food and beverage products, built around its signature product: a line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo, distributed in over 80 countries...
, Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
, and Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
. One of Baseman's most lauded endeavors in illustration is the best-selling board game Cranium
Cranium (board game)
Cranium is a party board game based on Ludo. Whit Alexander and Richard Tait created Cranium in 1998 after Richard spent a weekend playing games with another family and recognized the need for a game involving a variety of skills. He left his job at Microsoft, convincing friend and co-worker Whit...
. After ten years in New York, Baseman returned to Los Angeles to explore opportunities in art and entertainment.
Fine Art
In 1999, Baseman exhibited "Dumb Luck and Other Paintings About Lack of Control" at the Mendenhall Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibition established Baseman’s transition from illustration to fine art, during a time when many of his artist-friends, like Mark RydenMark Ryden
-Early life:Ryden is the son of Barbara and Keith Ryden, born in Medford, Oregon but raised in Southern California. He has two sisters and two brothers, one a fellow artist named Keyth Ryden....
, the Clayton Brothers
Clayton Brothers
Rob Clayton and Christian Clayton are painters based in California.Both Rob and Christian Clayton hold BFA degrees from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California .Their work has been exhibited widely throughout America and Europe, and has been featured in several important shows...
, and Eric White
Eric White (artist)
Eric White is an American artist, who currently lives and works in New York, NY. He graduated with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1990....
made similar moves. Since then, Baseman has shown in close to twenty independent exhibitions, notably, "Happy Idiot and Other Paintings About Vulnerability" at the Earl McGrath Gallery in New York City; "For the Love of Toby" at Billy Shire Fine Arts in Los Angeles; "I Melt in Your Presence" at the Modernism Gallery in San Francisco; and "Hide and Seek in the Forest of ChouChou," also at Billy Shire.
Baseman has exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the US and in Brazil, Germany, Israel, Italy, Russia, Spain, and Taiwan. Baseman’s work is featured in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery
National Portrait Gallery (United States)
The National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery in Washington, D.C., administered by the Smithsonian Institution. Its collections focus on images of famous individual Americans.-Building:...
in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Modern Art in Rome.
Fashion and Toys
Baseman has translated many of his characters into toys and figurinesFigurines
Figurines is an indie rock band from Denmark, formed in the mid-1990s. The band released their first EP, The Detour, in 2001 and their first full-length album, Shake a Mountain, in 2004. The band began to receive national attention in Denmark around the time of the full-length release, and began...
, clothing, handbags, and other accessories
Fashion accessory
Fashion accessories are decorative items that supplement and complement clothes, such as jewelery, gloves, handbags, hats, belts, scarves, wigs, watches, sunglasses, pins, stockings, bow ties, hand fans, leg warmers, leggings, neckties, suspenders, and tights....
. Prominent characters include Toby, the “best friend and the keeper of your dirty lil’ secrets”; Hotchachacha, “the little devil who steals haloes”; and ChouChou, who “dispels hate and fear, and oozes Creamy Gooey Love.”
For toy, figurine, and limited edition projects, Baseman has collaborated with Critterbox, Double Punch, Toy2R
Toy2R
Toy2R is a designer toy company based in Hong Kong that was founded by Raymond Choy in 1995.-History:Choy spent 10 years as an employee of an American footwear company. During his tenure there, he developed skills in general business operation, especially quality control...
, and Kidrobot
Kidrobot
Kidrobot is a producer and retailer of designer toys founded in 2002 by Paul Budnitz, specializing in artist-created toys and imports from Japan, Hong Kong, and Europe. Kidrobot also makes Kidrobot Mascots, which are figures of their main logo. These figures are usually nicknamed KR and the number...
. Fashion collaborations include Swatch, Hobbs & Kent, Harvey’s, Poketo
Poketo
Poketo is a design firm established in 2003 by Ted Vadakan and Angie Myung. The name "Poketo" , comes from the mispronunciation of the word "pocket" by Myung's grandmother. Currently located in Los Angeles, CA., Poketo specializes in designing limited edition art products, apparel, homeware and decor...
, and Frau Blau.
Television
In 1998, Baseman created the Disney animated series Teacher’s PetTeacher's Pet (TV series)
Teacher's Pet is an American Disney animated television series about a dog who lives like a little boy. Created by Gary Baseman, Bill Steinkellner and Cheri Steinkellner and directed by Timothy Björklund, it was broadcast on Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC and later Toon Disney...
, about a dog who dresses as a boy because he wants to go to school. Baseman claims the character Spot was based on his dog at the time, Hubcaps. The series aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from 2000–2002, and the feature film of the same title came out in 2004.
The cartoon included the voice talents of Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane
Nathan Lane is an American actor of stage and screen. He is best known for his roles as Mendy in The Lisbon Traviata, Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Ernie Smuntz in MouseHunt, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to...
, Shaun Fleming, Debra Jo Rupp, Jerry Stiller
Jerry Stiller
Gerald Isaac "Jerry" Stiller is an American comedian and actor.He spent many years in the comedy team Stiller and Meara with his wife Anne Meara...
, David Ogden Stiers, Rob Paulsen
Rob Paulsen
Robert Fredrick "Rob" Paulsen III , sometimes credited as Rob Paulson, is an American voice actor, best known as the voice behind Raphael from the 1987 cartoon of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Yakko Warner and Dr...
, Mae Whitman
Mae Whitman
Mae Margaret Whitman is an American television, movie and voice actress. She is known for her role as Ann Veal in the TV series Arrested Development, her role as Amber on the TV series Parenthood, her role as Roxy Richter in Scott Pilgrim vs...
, and Wallace Shawn
Wallace Shawn
Wallace Michael Shawn , sometimes credited as Wally Shawn, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, author, voice artist, and intellectual. His best-known film roles include Wally Shawn in My Dinner with Andre , Vizzini in The Princess Bride , and debate teacher Mr...
. The film featured Kelsey Grammer
Kelsey Grammer
Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...
, Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens
Paul Reubens is an American actor, writer, film producer, and comedian, best known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s and started his career as an improvisational comedian and stage actor...
, and Estelle Harris
Estelle Harris
Estelle Harris is an American stand-up comedienne, actress, voice artist, and comedienne, often recognized for her shrill, grating voice. She is best known for her role as Estelle Costanza on Seinfeld from 1992 to 1998, as the voice of Mrs...
.
Baseman won the Outstanding Individual Achievement Emmy for Production Design. The show won Emmy Awards for Best Daytime Animated Series 2000 and 2001; Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program: Nathan Lane; and a BAFTA Emmy for Best International Children’s Program.
Recent Years
In 2009, Baseman added performance artPerformance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
to his oeuvre with "La Noche de la Fusión," a mythical holiday festival. Over two thousand attendees celebrated a melding of cultural practices and ideas. Along with games, live music, and dancers, the event featured live models in costume playing Baseman’s female characters Skeleton Girl, Hickey Bat Girl, Bubble Girl, and Butterfly Girl. Displayed at the exhibition was the Enlightened Chou, a new character inspired by Baseman’s international travels.
In June of 2010, Baseman presented "Giggle and Pop!" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
. Live action costumed ChouChous played in the La Brea Tar Pits
La Brea Tar Pits
The La Brea Tar Pits are a cluster of tar pits around which Hancock Park was formed, in the urban heart of Los Angeles. Asphaltum or tar has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years. The tar is often covered with water...
along with models dressed as Baseman’s Wild Girls, who were renamed "Tar Pit Girls" for the occasion. The characters performed a dance choreographed by Sarah Elgart, and the audience joined in with singer-songwriter Carina Round
Carina Round
Carina Round is a British singer/songwriter from Wolverhampton in the West Midlands of England.Comparisons are frequently drawn to PJ Harvey, though Round would contend that she is more directly influenced by Patti Smith.- Background :...
, who performed a song she composed for the event.
In February 2011, Baseman had his debut live performance with the independent music band Nightmare and the Cat, featuring Sam and Django Stewart and Claire Acey, at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Dubbed the "art jockey" for the band, Baseman paints on paper, canvas, or even on the lead singer Django Stewart, while the band plays. The following March, in conjunction with the opening weekend of his solo art exhibition, "Walking through Walls," Baseman performed with the band in New York at the Hudson Hotel, Lit Lounge, and the Ace Hotel. They also performed at the HP Mobile Park at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
- "Walking through Walls," Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York City, 2011
- "La Noche de la Fusion," Corey Helford Gallery, Culver City, 2009
- "Sacrificing of the Cake," Urbanix, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2009
- "Knowledge Comes From Gas Release," Iguapop Gallery, Barcelona, 2008
- "Beyond Ultraman: Seven Artists Explore the Vinyl Frontier," Pasadena Museum of California Art/Los Angeles Toy, Doll, & Amusements Museum, 2007
- "Hide and Seek in the Forest of ChouChou," Billy Shire Fine Arts, Los Angeles, 2007
- “I Melt in your Presence,” Modernism San Francisco 2007
- “PERVASION: The Art of Baseman and Biskup,” Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, 2006
- “A Moment Ago, Everything was Beautiful, Installation,” Pasadena Museum of California Art, 2005
- “Garden of Unearthly Delights,” Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York City, 2005
- “For the Love of Toby,” Billy Shire Fine Arts, Los Angeles, 2005
- “Happy Idiot and Other Paintings about Unattainable Beauty,” Earl McGrath Gallery, New York City, 2003
- “I am Your Piñata and Other paintings about Love and Sacrifice,” La Luz de Jesus, Los Angeles, 2002
- “Dumb Luck and Other Paintings About Lack of Control,” Mendenhall Gallery, Los Angeles, 1999
- "Dream Reality," Choque Cultural, Brazil, 2010