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June 2026
Zoe Baer: Still
Still presents charcoal drawings by Zoe Baer that examine how identity is formed and perceived under conditions of visual saturation.
Baer begins from a simple observation: contemporary life is shaped by images that are edited, staged, and circulated at speed. Recognition becomes unstable. Identity expands into visible markers—appearance, status, biography—yet these do not provide reliable access to the self. Rather than illustrating this, Baer reconstructs it through drawing.
Her work is grounded in technical precision. Using charcoal, she develops highly controlled, photorealist images defined by light, shadow, and texture. Faces, bodies, and animals emerge with clarity, yet do not fully resolve. Edges soften. Forms recede. The subject remains partially available.
This tension between control and instability is central. The drawings appear to offer recognition, then withhold it. Meaning does not arrive immediately, but develops through sustained attention.
Process plays a critical role. Charcoal allows for both control and revision. Baer builds surfaces through layered tonal shifts, where marks are reinforced, softened, or partially erased. Her background in art restoration informs this approach. Rather than securing the image, she maintains its openness.
Across portraits and animal studies, Still establishes a slower contract with the viewer. These works resist the glance and require time. Recognition becomes provisional rather than fixed.
The work does not reject identity, but narrows its claims. When usual signals are reduced, what remains is a form of presence that does not rely on performance or completion.
About the Artist
Zoe Baer (b. 1994, Paris) is a fine artist and art restorer based between Paris and Luzern, Switzerland. She specializes in photorealist charcoal drawing, with a sustained focus on light, shadow, and texture. Her work explores how technical precision can produce images that remain perceptually and psychologically open.
Baer trained in art restoration at Atelier du Temps Passé in Paris (completed 2021) and holds a BA in Film and Media from University College London. Her restoration practice, including the conservation of historically significant works, informs her sensitivity to surface, material integrity, and visual continuity.
She has exhibited internationally and is represented by galleries in Austria and Australia, as well as Saatchi Art.