Bio

Ingrid Baars is a Dutch artist known for her distinctive photographic collages. After a career as an illustrator and photographer for clients including Nike and Nikon, she shifted her focus to autonomous work in 2009.

Her work is built from carefully assembled photographic fragments. Through this layered process, she constructs portraits that feel both intimate and timeless, often described as painting with photography.

Baars’ work is exhibited internationally and is collected worldwide, with a particularly strong collector base in the United States.

In her practice, Baars works intuitively, building each image from dozens  of photographic elements. Faces, textures and details are carefully combined until a new figure begins to emerge. The result is not a captured moment, but a constructed presence.

Her portraits often exist in a quiet, introspective space. The figures are not posed in a conventional way, nor do they perform for the viewer. Instead, they hold a sense of stillness and inner life, a restrained, almost timeless form of expression.

While earlier bodies of work were more directly inspired by African sculpture and historical references, her recent work moves towards a more distilled and self-contained visual language, where the focus lies on presence, emotion and the inner life of the figure.

Beauty plays an essential role in this process. Not as decoration, but as a way to carry meaning, something that can hold both vulnerability and strength at once.

Baars’ work invites a slower way of looking. An experience that unfolds gradually, revealing itself over time.

Artist Statement

In my work, I construct portraits from fragments of photographs, building each image piece by piece. This process allows me to move beyond the limitations of a single photograph and create figures that feel real.

I think of it as painting with photography. Edges soften, surfaces dissolve, and the image becomes less about documentation and more about presence.

The figures I create often exist in a quiet, introspective space. They are not performing for the viewer. Instead, they hold a certain stillness, a sense of inner life, dignity and restraint.

While earlier series drew directly from African sculpture and historical references, my more recent work has shifted towards a more universal language of femininity. I am interested in beauty not as decoration, but as a carrier of meaning, something that can hold history, vulnerability and strength at the same time.

My aim is to create images that invite a slower way of looking. Works that do not reveal themselves all at once, but unfold over time. The longer you look, the more they begin to open up, new details, connections and nuances gradually emerging.

Images that are soft, but not fragile. Intimate, but not passive. Images that stay with you.

2026

ARTITLEDcontemporary, London Art Fair, UK
ARTITLEDcontemporary, Enter Art Fair, CPH
ARTITLEDcontemporary, Modern Art Fair, UK
ARTITLEDcontemporary, PAN, Amsterdam, NL

AfriKin Art Fair, Scott Galvin Community Center, Miami, FL, USA

2025

ARTITLEDcontemporary, London Art Fair, UK
ARTITLEDcontemporary, Enter Art Fair, CPH
ARTITLEDcontemporary, Modern Art Fair, UK
ARTITLEDcontemporary, PAN, Amsterdam, NL

AfriKin Art Fair, Scott Galvin Community Center, Miami, FL, USA

2024

ARTITLEDcontemporary, PAN Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Gallery Untitled, group show, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Gallery Untitled, North Sea Jazz Art, group show, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2023
NYCH Gallery, solo show, Chicago, US
Gallery Untitled, solo show, North Sea Jazz Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2022
Størpunkt, group show, Munich, Germany
Gallery Untitled, solo show, North Sea Yazz Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Gallery Untitled, solo show, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Gallery Untitled, Haute Photographie, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

2021
NYCH Gallery, group show, Chicago, US

2020
NYCH Gallery, solo show, Chicago, US

2019
Rijksmuseum Twenthe, The Naked Truth, Enschede, Netherlands
Studio Ingrid Baars, solo show, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Joseph Gross Gallery, Crystal Streets Event, LA, US
Montagut Gallery, Summer group show, Sitges, Spain

2018
Photo Beijing 2018, Image – Time, Beijing
Kerchache/Pivaty, solo show, Paris, France
Kerchache/Pivaty, FotoFever, Paris, France
Kerchache/Pivaty, Myconian collection art show, Mykonos, Greece
Joseph Gross Gallery, The Seattle Art Market Fair, Seattle, US
Gallery Montagut, solo show, Barcelona, Spain

2017
ArtLeadHer, Lawrence Alkin Gallery, London, UK
Fayetteville Underground, Fayetteville, Arkansas, US
ArtLeadHer, Kingwoman, Pen and Brush, NY, US

2016
Laeremans Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Rademakers Gallery, Context Art Fair, NY, US
ArtLeadHer, Joseph Gross Gallery, NY, US
Gallery Untitled, KunstRai, Netherlands
Rademakers Gallery, solo show, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rademakers Gallery, Affordable Art Fair, Hamburg, Germany
Azart Gallery, Art Basel Miami Beach (Scope), US

2015
Ozwald Boateng, London, UK
Christie’s Multiplied Art Fair, London, UK

2014
Whitford Fine Art, BRAFA, Brussels, London, UK
Bruneaf, Brussels, Belgium
Parcours des Mondes, Paris, France
Christie’s Multiplied Art Fair, London, UK
Ozwald Boateng, London, UK

2013
Gallery Fine Art Studio, solo show L’Afrique c’est Chic, Portraits, Brussels, Belgium
Rademakers Gallery, solo show, L’Afrique Part 2, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Whitford Fine Art, BRAFA, Brussels, Belgium
Whitford Fine Art, Palm Beach Art Fair, Palm Beach, US
Gallery Fine Art Studio, Impressions d’Afrique, Brussels, Belgium
Agbessi Contemporary Art, Parcours des Mondes, Paris, France
Alcazar, Parcours des Mondes, Paris, France
Galerie Vallois, Le choix de Valentine Plisnier, Paris, France
Agbessi Contemporary Art, solo show, L’Afrique, Paris, France

2012
Rademakers Gallery, solo show ‘L’Afrique C’est Chic’, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Rademakers Gallery, KunstRai, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Gallery Fine Art Studio, solo show ‘L’Afrique C’est Chic’, Brussels, Belgium
Rademakers Gallery, PAN Art Fair, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rademakers Gallery, group show ARTI, The Hague, Netherlands
Galerie Fine Art Studio, solo show ‘L’Afrique C’est Chic’, Paris, France
Whitford Gallery, solo show ‘L’Afrique C’est Chic’, London, UK

2011
Photo Biennale, Naarden, Netherlands
Rademakers Gallery, group show ARTI, The Hague, Netherlands
Rademakers Gallery, Affordable Art Fair, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Rademakers Gallery, Millionaire Fair, Amsterdam, Netherlands
RushArts Gallery, group show ‘Neekid Black Gurls’, NY, US
Rademakers Gallery, Realism Art Fair, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Whitford Gallery, London Art Fair, London, UK
Whitford Gallery, BRAFA, Brussels, London UK

2010
V!p’s Gallery, solo show ‘ScreenSirenArtistLover’, Rotterdam Netherlands
Tartuca Gallery, solo show ‘Ingrid Baars’, Maastricht, Netherlands
V!p’s Gallery, group show, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2009
V!p’s Gallery, solo show ‘ScreenSirenArtistLover’, Amsterdam, Netherlands
V!p’s Gallery, group show, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2008
Club Sense (by V!P’s Gallery), solo show ‘Ingrid Baars’, Paris, France
V!p’s Gallery, group show, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2007
V!p’s Gallery, solo show ‘Inside/Outside’, Rotterdam, Netherlands
V!p’s Gallery, group show, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2006
Scream Gallery, solo show, ‘GLAM’, London, UK
V!p’s Gallery, group show, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2005
V!p’s Gallery, solo show ‘Ingrid Baars’, Rotterdam, Netherlands
BOZAR Museum, group show ‘Icons’, Brussels, Belgium
Gallery Blow Up, group show, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Moraira Gallery, group show ‘Exposition de primavera’, Alicante, Spain
Isabel Bilbao Gallery, Art Valencia Fair, Valencia, Spain
Isabel Bilbao Gallery, group show, Javea-Alicante, Spain
V!p’s Gallery, group show, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2004
Blow Up Gallery, group show, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Solo Gadiot e Mas Gallery, ’Landscapes’, Rotterdam, Netherlands
V!p’s Gallery, Lineart, Gent, Belgium
Isabel Bilbao Gallery, group show ‘Artemania’, Javea-Alicante, Spain
V!p’s Gallery, group show, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2003
V!p’s Gallery, solo show ‘About Face’, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Blow Up Gallery, solo show ‘Faced’, Amsterdam, Netherlands
V!p’s Gallery, group show, Rotterdam, Netherlands

2001
V!p’s Gallery, solo show ‘Passion Play’, Rotterdam, Netherlands

1999
Kunsthal, ‘Terugblik ’99-89’, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Awards

2020 – Honorable mention Beautiful Bizarre Art Price, category digital art
2011 – Winner, London Photographic Association (LPA) ‘Commended’, category The Nude, ‘L’Afrique c’est Chic’
2011 – Winner 2nd place – Merit of excellence, Color Awards USA category: Fashion, Photography Masters Cup,
2009 – Nominee NYPF 2009, New York Photo Festival, category Fine Art
2009 – Nominee Color Awards USA categories Advertising & Nude Photography, Masters Cup – 3rd Annual
2008 – Nominee, Screening Award Berlin
2008 – Winner, category Photography by ADCN (Art Directors Club Netherlands)
2005 – Nominee category Photography by ADCN (Art Directors Club Netherlands)
1997 – Winner, Illustration Year Award, The Netherlands

Press

Criticaletteraria, interview, March 2021
Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, issue 32, 2021
Zaniah, Open the Book Magazine, 2019
Four Magazine, Hotels and Lifestyle, cover & interview, 2018
Shot Magazine, Venice, Italy, cover & interview, 2018
Upscale Living, interview by Deve Sanford, 2018
Image – Time, catalogue, Photo Beijing, 2018
Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, no. 17, Australia, 2017
Patrick A. Howell, Huffington Post, February 2017
Talk, Life and Artstyle Magazine, 2012
Villa d’Arte, November 2016, cover & interview
Bleaq, interview, 2016
Ingrid Baars, ‘L’Afrique’, catalogue/monography, ed. by Barbara VanderLinden, Fine Art Studio, 2013
Kunst und Auktionen, no. 13, August, 2013
Monsieur/Mademoiselle, March 2013, Ingrid Baars, mélange des genres
Another Africa, Art & Culture, Joyce Bidouzou-Coudray, The poetic psyche of female iconography, March 13, 2013
Valentine Plisnier, Le primitivisme dans la Photographie, November 2012, pp. 180-181
Talk, art & lifestyle, no. 22, November/December 2012
The Economist, Intelligent Life, October 2012
The Word, Philippe Pourhashemi, interview, 2012
ASVOF, Phillipe Pourhashemi, 2012
New York Beacon, interview by Danny Simons, January 19 – 25, 2012
Cutting Edge, Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin Germany, 2011
Fresh Volume 3, MAGMA Brand design Germany, 2011
New Industry Arts, Highlights, 2010
Illusive 3, Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin Germany, 2009
The Keywords on Visual Arts in The Netherlands, IDEAfried Studio Taiwan, 2008
Ingrid Baars, Monography selected work 2000-2007, Artemis Netherlands, 2007
200 Best Illustrators World Wide, Lurzers Archive, 2007
Illusive 2, Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin Germany, 2007
All Alure, Die Gestalten Verlag, Berlin Germany, 2006
200 Best Illustrators Worldwide, Lurzer’s Archive, 2005
Eneco Art Collection, by Eneco Energy Co., 2006