Resolute
Mindy Solomon is pleased to present the work of British-born New York-based artist Xavier Baxter. Baxter brings his bold language of abstraction to Miami for the first time.
“I am a painter who wrestles with the human form through abstraction, I construct larger-than-life figures using gestural marks made with oil, pigment sticks, and spray paint. My process is both visceral and physical, using scrapers, palette knives, hands, and brushes to manipulate thick, tactile surfaces. What emerges is a storm of marks and linear gestures. Contorted limbs, faces, and eyes framed within the confines of the canvas. These abstracted bodies are not portraits but psychological impressions, shaped as much by material as by memory.
Born into a family of artists in England, I developed an early relationship with form, which led me to study sculpture at the City and Guilds of London Art School. While my current practice is rooted in painting, the structural sensibilities of sculpture remain foundational. I continuously experiment with brands and mixtures of paint to achieve surfaces rich in texture and emotional weight, drawing inspiration from artists like: Anselm Kiefer, Jean Dubuffet, and Baselitz whose works share my fascination with density, gesture, and raw materiality.
My paintings inhabit the tension between chaos and control, figuration and abstraction. They invite viewers to find their own reflections in the tangled anatomies and layered marks, to sense something bodily and immediate beneath the surface. This is not about rendering the figure as seen, but as felt: as distorted, fractured, and reassembled through the filter of experience.”
Baxter’s solo exhibition features a selection of curated works that highlight the variation in scale that he is known for. Look Forward, 2025 is a mammoth work measuring 120” x 96”. Slashes of black complement the white, red, blues and other colors dancing on the canvas. Can You See, 2025 is a smaller work at 72” x 60” where the lines and forms appear enveloped in a cloud, thrusting their way forward. The other works in the show measure 48” x 40 and 107” x 87”. Each creating their own space and story.
Unapologetically graphic, each slash on the canvas has intention, creating structural forms that push and pull on the picture plane. There is a meatiness to each work that delivers a gut punch. We are excited to bring Baxter’s unique language of abstraction to an appreciative Miami audience.
About Xavier Baxter
Xavier Baxter (b. 1991, London, UK) is a Brooklyn-based painter who explores the abstracted figure through saturated swirls of oil, acrylic, and spray paint, applied with scrapers, knives, hands, and brushes to create contorted, larger-than-life forms. Drawing on his sculptural training at City and Guilds University and a family legacy of artists, he experiments with materials to achieve richly textured surfaces inspired by Kossoff, Kiefer, Dubuffet, and Bogart.
Baxter’s work has been exhibited across the UK, US, Germany, Denmark, Spain, and Korea, with recent solo shows at The Hole in Los Angeles, Vigo Gallery and Union Gallery in London, Jack Hanley in New York, and an upcoming solo at Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami (2025). He has also presented at The Armory Show, Enter Art Fair, CAN Ibiza, and a solo booth with Jari Lager at Untitled Miami.
