Sarah Baker "Timepiece." Courtesy of the artist

The desire to be famous is considered, by some, to be inherent to Western culture and, more specifically, the American Dream as a measure of success.  Historically, we awarded the mantle of “celebrity” to our most talented and beautiful performers, most affluent families, and even most influential politicians. These people were central to our lives — they were our role models, our spokespersons, people who we admired and aspired to be like.

But being like someone is hard work. It’s much easier to look like them, act like them, smell like them…

These days, celebrities have gotten more sohpisticated, teaming up with marketing teams to brand their personality. Today, every actress has a signature scent or a handbag line, and more and more stars are licensing their persona to stay in the public eye.  Every day another actor has started a rap career, or vice versa, and another actress is moonlighting as R&B diva, or vice versa.  Package that with a hit video-game using your likeness, and presto — you have a rock solid brand that spans the entertainment spectrum.

This is the subject of Sarah Baker’s work.  By utilizing the tools and trade of our beloved VIPs, she is able to be the one sitting behind a façade that she constructed, as believable as any put together by J-Lo or Paris Hilton’s publicists.  From this unique vantage point, the artist explores the perspective of persona-as-business-model and attitude as publicity.

I recently had a chance to talk to Ms. Baker and ask her questions about her work, notably her latest video project, Studs — an homage to Jackie Collins’s 1969 novel The Stud.

Emberly Modine: Can you explain why you are drawn to Jackie Collins novels, what about the characters you related to, and the dynamics of the relationships she portrays?

Sarah Baker - production stills from "Studs." Courtesy of the artist Top - Baker; Center - Wes Studi; Bottom - Bill May

Sarah Baker: I believe that Jackie Collins is a pioneer. She portrayed characters in the ’60s that our society is praising now. She predicted celebrities such as Paris Hilton. David Lynch tore a page out of her books for Muholland Drive. She invented Alexis Carrington of Dynasty, who I believe influenced characters such as those in Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. She portrayed celebrity obsession and brand obsession before reality TV and rap music.

EM: So she is, so to say, a pop prophet?

SB: Yeah! And she is not credited enough for doing so. She portrays a superficial society that is in full force but is not critical of it either, which is very important to me and my work.

EM: Would you say that she invented a certain female archetype?  I am going off of your mentioning Paris Hilton and Alexis Carrington...

SB: Yes, the Alexis Carrington character that was played by Joan Collins in Aaron Spelling’s Dynasty was based on Fontain Khaled from Jackie Collins’s The Stud (1969). This character was (loosely) based on the real Joan Collins, and Joan plays this character in the film The Stud. Fontain Khaled (aka The Bitch) is a materialistic label whore who is selfish and greedy and uses men to get what she wants. She uses her rich husband as a sugar daddy to fund her frivolities and whims, meanwhile using a good-looking bar manager (The Stud) to satisfy her sexual needs. It’s a nasty business, but she’s having fun.

EM: I understand that you have known Bill May for a long time, and I must say that in Studs, he perfectly represents the archetype of a stud: handsome and in perfect synchronization with the women he is entangled with.  I am dying to know: why (and how) Wes Studi?

SB: Oh. I love Wes Studi as an actor. He is amazing as the bad-ass Indian in Last of the Mohicans. I have a physical reaction to Magua; he is a true Stud. Also, there is a real exoticism in that film and sexual tension between the white women and the “savage” Indians that is very stereotypical and commonly used in romance novels! I am very intrigued at how Native Americans are portrayed in Hollywood cinema and that many people around the world learn American history by watching movies and TV series such as Into The West, and Wes is in most of these. However, Wes is a great actor, so I wanted to see him play something that he would not be typically cast as — the Blake Carrington-type character. The Rich Husband. He is so brilliant at that role as well. He’s a great actor. He is in a new TV series which starts very soon, called Kings, and James Cameron’s new Avatar.

EM: How did you come to contact him?

SB: Careful e-mailing. He is a friend of good friends of mine who arranged an introduction. I must admit I was intimidated.

EM: What was it like working with him? Has he ever worked with an artist before?

Sarah Baker -"Limousine" Photos: Jet Courtesy of the artist

SB: He is used to working with very serious directors and actors, and I have never directed seriously. Apparently you must say things like “action” and “cut”!

EM: [Laughs] And did you?

SB: Well, when it became apparent (during the shoot) to say those words, I tried to but it really takes practice! It actually takes a lot of guts to say “action” because it seems so forced or surreal or old fashioned, but I guess it’s necessary, but it also shows how inexperienced I was at that point! We still got through the shoot, but I learned my lesson. I don’t think he has ever worked with an artist before on this level. They politely called my way of working “mysterious,” but the reality is that I didn’t know what I was doing!

EM: Do you plan on doing more projects with this kind of set-up?

SB: Sometimes, when I don’t really know what I’m doing, it works out better. Some people call it “organic,” but I hate that word. It’s more like serendipity and just letting things happen naturally, but this can be very frustrating for other people, so I will try to do more story-boarding and working more on communication. I will definitely continue to work like this. Doing art videos is a strange business because there is no underlying format for it. If it’s not a narrative feature film or a commercial or music video, then what is it? How long is it? Where do you end?

EM: I suppose a lot of that is worked out in editing…?

SB: The editing is the fun part but the hard part. You really have to ask yourself, “What do I want?” It’s a different format from, say, a Hollywood movie producer who continually asks himself, “What does the audience want?” But that’s why it’s a different business. I’m not selling box office tickets. Alfred Hitchcock apparently always took his audience into consideration and I do too, but I don’t want to solve a mystery for people; rather, I want the audience to have more questions after watching the piece.

EM: Even before Studs, you have been working on an alter-ego that, while definitely fitting in with the ’80s-esque persona in your video piece, really inhabits the persona of the present cult of personality — the self-branded celebrity.  Can you talk about that a little bit?

SB: I am influenced by celebrities who have their own perfume labels, and you can learn from watching the “Fabulously Rich” TV shows that celebrities like J-Lo earn most of their living off of. It’s funny to me, because this is not their talent. What does Paris Hilton know about perfume? A couple of years ago, it was pretty cool for a pop star to have their logo branded all over every inch of their music videos. A brand gives a sense of history and status so as to make the persona legitimate. I figured I could do that too as an artist.

EM: What is your persona beyond the branding? It seems to involve a certain attitude.

Sarah Baker - "Birthday Party" Photos: Jet. Courtesy of the artist

SB: It’s a superficial superiority that is influenced by classicism. I think artists like Lil’ Kim adapted this in her music and brand. She is the self-proclaimed “Queen Bitch,” bragging about all of her material possessions and power. My boring roots as a middle-class white girl made me want to experience something more grandiose.

EM: How do you find that to be?

SB: People expect me to be a bitch!

EM: [Laughs] I watched a video where you were talking  about making Limousine. That was incredible. Can you describe that experience for me?

SB: I think the work was inspired by expectations and how we judge one another on superficial things, such as skin color, accents, and bag labels. Some people can look at a Gucci bag and determine in a split second if it’s real or fake and make a quick judgment on that. My favorite red carpet moment was when Courtney Love wore a fake Chanel dress to an event and had to publicly apologize to Tom Ford and fire her stylist.  When I did the Limousine project for Vague Paper magazine, we got decked out in next season’s fashion labels and I tore around London’s swanky streets with my entourage, which included bodyguard, PR, personal stylist and photographer. I was apparently believable as a “real someone,” but nobody knew “what I was.” One of the fru fru shop owners pretended to know “who I was” and served us tea and biscuits in their shop. We got serious royal treatment. My bodyguard, played by artist Anthony Gross, sealed the deal by waiting suspiciously by the door with his earpiece. The magazine spread was great, but the experience was priceless.

EM: I got so tickled watching it, and it was so clever because it really uncovers how everything depends upon reputation — especially for the shopkeeper. He couldn’t afford to not give a “real someone” the appropriate treatment!

SB: He was trying so hard!

EM: It’s really an amazing social experiment. Tell me about another piece that was featured as a magazine spread — The Birthday Party.

SB: The Birthday Party was a photo-shoot inspired by Sam Taylor Wood and Elton Johns’ joint birthday party. I am fascinated by the fact that artists such as Sam Taylor Wood and Tracey Emin are actually in the tabloids in London. It’s not as common in America. Most people probably don’t even know who Cindy Sherman is. When Sam Taylor Wood and Elton John had their joint parties, it was all over the rags and every celebrity friend was pictured. I wanted to do something like that for my real 30th Birthday, so I got a magazine on board and we got Momo from Sketch to host my party, which included several friends who are artists and musicians. A chick from Chicks on Speed is a good friend, so they came along, London artists such as Ian Monroe, Matt Franks, Ellen Cantor, and Dallas Seitz all came. It’s kind of icky to talk about my real friends like a line-up, but a paparazzi at a celeb’s birthday party would photograph the celebs, and that’s who ended up in the magazine spread.

EM: I saw some stills from a video you did, called I Have Nothing, where it would seem you chose to try your hand at singing…

SB: I Have Nothing was based on my passion for watching X Factor. I cry when the contestants sing every time, especially when they are really evoking some inner passion. I Have Nothing is a very passionate song that I truly love; Whitney Houston is the best. In this video, I was, again, using the techniques of a pop star — back-lighting and wind machines with black and white slow motion playbacks — “memories.” I wanted to really feel the emotion of the lyrics and evoke the pain of sorrow and longing so as to make people cry. I was really sincerely trying to dig deep, but the problem is that I can’t sing, so most people watch this video and laugh. Apparently I’m tone deaf or something. It was a failure in a way, but that’s all a part of the modern-day celebrity.

Sarah Baker - production still from "I Have Nothing." Courtesy of the artist

EM: What is interesting to me about this piece is that, in your other work, you appropriate the trappings of the celebrity to create a flawless veneer, but in I Have Nothing, you could have used a pitch device like Britney Spears does, yet you chose to let your “imperfect” voice come through.

SB: [Laughs] Yeah, but Britney is probably not tone deaf! I’m pretty far off and she has been practicing for years. This was my first singing venture aside from karaoke and, in fact, it was a karaoke performance that instigated this piece. I can’t sing but I can feel, and perhaps that is more entertaining. I actually did professionally record the vocals and it went through a pro sound program with lots of polish on the raw voice. I don’t want to completely lose the rawness of reality, however. I want my work to balance on that line. Sometimes it swings into too rough, or too polished, but the ambiguity is what I strive for, because that is the truth of me: I am perpetually undecided.

EM: It seems you walk that line a lot in your work — that, in this projection of a celebrity persona, there is always an awareness of its doppelganger on the inside.

SB: That’s right. So now I’m interested in getting people to play me.

EM: Ah yes! Tell me about Sarah Baker and the Ominous Ox.

SB: It was a collaboration with Andy Hsu. In celebration of Year of the Ox at the Victoria & Albert museum, we created a two-person Ox costume, inspired by the Chinese Lion, which “Sarah Baker” ushered around the museum while it reluctantly dispensed Ominous fortunes from his third eye for the audience. “Sarah Baker” was wearing a next-season’s futuristic Alexander McQueen and was played by a Russian actress, Anna Bondareva.

Sarah Baker and Andy Hsu - "Sarah Baker and the Ominous Ox." Courtesy of the Victoria Albert Museum and the artists.

EM: Did she follow a script or character outline that you came up with?

SB: I showed her my work and Marlene Dietrich’s character in the film Touch of Evil to inspire her role. Her instruction was to be haughty and selective. The fortunes were not necessarily “good,” but the audience flocked around her to try to get one.

EM: Did you choose Marlene Dietrich’s role because of her mysteriousness?

SB: Anna is a good actress, however, I suspect that this role came naturally to her. I met her at a poker game in London and she definitely demanded attention, plus she fleeced us all. Marlene is a fortune teller in Touch of Evil but also a bitch. “Your future is all used up,” is her famous line.

EM: What was it like having someone play you or a version of you?

SB: Terrific! For my next project, I will have several Sarah Bakers. If I brand myself, then an actress can wear that brand. Apparently Charlie Chaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest and he placed third!

EM: You have stated, in another interview, that you seek to “reinvent history” — to put people that have been the best at what they do but failed to receive recognition in their rightful place.

SB: I can reinvent history through fantasy. It would be a challenging endeavor to actually do it! In art, though, you can do anything you want and that is very freeing. I often get upset with the way we ignorantly mistreat certain people who make massive contributions to society. Bill May is a good example, as a male synchronized swimmer. The public, first of all, dismisses synchronized swimming, and especially a man doing it. What’s worse is that, even though Bill May was once the most influential synchronized swimmer and unbeatable in competition, he was rejected by other synchronized swimmers and the synchronized swimming society because of his gender. In 2004, I made a video of Bill May doing what he does best, as a tribute to him. He is swimming with the ‘04 US Olympic team who he was coaching at the time, as he was not allowed to compete in the Olympics. I set the seven-minute video to rap and R&B music — Eminem, D12 and Usher. He usually swims to “Singin’ In The Rain.” This juxtaposition of ultra violent, powerful male lyrics with a cool beat made Bill a contender. It twisted the sexuality somehow to make him “cool,” and men and women both love to watch him. He is beautiful!

To learn more about Sarah Baker, visit her website.