ABout that
jim baab guy…

Somerville, MA visual artist and maker Jim Baab (rhymes with cab) is an amateur photographer known for elevating the mundane and exploring pareidolia in-camera, via unique perspectives and, sometimes, simple effects. He is passionate about the human form, food, Science Fiction, and geometry; and, sometimes, those themes converge. One example would be Jim’s oldest illusion: a still-life, nude portrait of a red pepper and Brussels sprout that was inspired by Edward Weston’s ‘Pepper No. 30’.

Somerville
Open Studios

Jim has participated in and supported Somerville Open Studios' city-wide, annual, visual arts weekend since 2013. He has no studio and his equipment is low-end; yet, his explorations of light, line, and illusion have won awards and been chosen for juried exhibitions in the United States and Europe. Jim has always been creative; but, participating in “Open Studios” that first time was the first time he thought of himself as an artist.

Illusionistic &
Figurative ThemeS

After exhibiting his early figurative and Instagram work via Somerville Open Studios, Jim began connecting with regional artists, galleries and organizations such as the Boston Photographic Resource Center and Griffin Museum of Photography.

Karin Rosenthal, known for her “Human Landscape” images, (spiritual explorations at the intersection of figurative and nature photography) became very influential in Jim’s growth, creatively, via her workshops on her style and the styles of other photographers. While attending Karin’s workshops, Jim became enamored with the work of Bill Brandt and Arno Rafael Minkkinen. Their explorations and transformations of bodies in nature influenced Jim’s process of experimenting during photoshoots.

MakinG

As someone who is handy, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jim’s creativity became focused on raising and entertaining his two young children by completely upgrading an old cedar play house that rolls on rails above a hidden sandbox that is covered by a flip-up deck - plus, it has it’s own Facebook page, building playthings out of cardboard, hacking Ikea products, and keeping every day as fun as possible. He has plans to repair and make more things; but, it has been very difficult to make the time.

Fashion & Design

Since late 2022, Jim has been designing and offering print-on-demand fashion, luxury accessories, and home furnishings that feature some of his lesser-known experiments and Instagram images via "Jim Baab Photo Lab" on Contrado.com (a business located in the UK that makes sustainability a priority) and "ThatJimBaabGuy" on Redbubble.com in the US.