{"title":"John Baird","description":"\u003cp\u003eB. 1954\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn Baird transforms the everyday into worlds both familiar and strangely poetic. Working across painting, collage and sculpture, he turns sailboats, dressing tables, floral arrangements and vintage fabrics into scenes that hover between memory and imagination.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn his early career, Baird exhibited at Melbourne’s Roar Studios, presenting two solo exhibitions and participating in several group shows. His presence there followed a generation of artists associated with the space who embraced figuration with a countercultural spirit, at a time when abstraction had become the dominant current in contemporary art.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA formative influence was his time as studio assistant to modernist master Leonard French, whose stained-glass ceiling at the National Gallery of Victoria remains iconic. French’s advice—to “press the image against glass”—inspired Baird’s subtle orchestration of space, where foreground and background mingle and objects appear at once tangible and spectral.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOver four decades, Baird has honed a language of gentle theatricality. Forms tilt, flatten and interlock, drawing on Synthetic Cubism and nods to artists such as Marc Chagall, Margaret Preston and Dorothy Braund, yet remain entirely his own. Each work is a miniature world where past and present, observation and imagination quietly collide.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 2025, The Authentic Consequence: Forty Years of John Baird at the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery celebrated his career. His work is held in major collections including HOTA Collection, Gold Coast; Castlemaine Art Museum; Artbank; and Bell Potter Group, as well as private collections.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohn Baird’s work invites collectors to inhabit moments where the ordinary becomes unexpectedly enchanting.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"baird-john-engineered-still-lif-17822","title":"John Baird 'Engineered Still Life'","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis intimate bronze maquette by Mornington Peninsula artist John Baird captures four decades of looking, making and refining in a sculpture that feels both assured and quietly playful. A finalist in the 2025 McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery Maquette: Sculpture Award for his bronze Engineered Still Life, Baird brings to this work the same considered sense of composition that defines his paintings - his characteristic intimate picture plane here unfolding into three dimensions and gently occupying space with quiet confidence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWorking within the award’s 50cm scale, Baird embraces the pleasure of restraint. The composition is distilled yet lively: botanical forms poised like a small theatre of leaves and stems, at once structured and slightly whimsical. Cast in bronze, the sculpture carries a sense of permanence, yet it retains an intimacy that invites close viewing. Light moves softly across its patina, revealing nuance and warmth. For collectors, this maquette represents not only the convergence of Baird’s modernist influences and long fascination with constructed space, but also a moment of joy - an artist delighting in form, balance and the simple, enduring beauty of a still life reimagined.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/artandcollectors.com\/collections\/john-baird\"\u003eJohn BAIRD\u003c\/a\u003e (1954 - )\u003cbr\u003e'Engineered Still Life' 2022\u003cbr\u003ebronze sculpture\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eImage Size\u003c\/i\u003e: 41 x 38 cm \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDimensions\u003c\/i\u003e: 41 x 38 x 38 cm \u003cbr\u003eComes with a Letter of Provenance\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis work was a finalist in the 2025 McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery Maquette: Sculpture Award\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCondition: \u003cstrong\u003eExcellent\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(c) The Artist or Assignee\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Art and Collectors","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44746412884038,"sku":null,"price":12000.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0499\/8229\/files\/baird-john-engineered-still-lif-17822-2.jpg?v=1773626725"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0499\/8229\/collections\/baird-john-engineered-still-lif-17761.jpg?v=1773626807","url":"https:\/\/artandcollectors.com\/collections\/john-baird.oembed","provider":"Art and Collectors","version":"1.0","type":"link"}