SKIP Gallery is an ongoing collaborative artwork, created by artistic duo Baker & Borowski. Their idea is to offer opportunities for artistic interventions in unexpected places, utilising a specially modified skip. As an artistic counterbalance to the severe lack of green space in cities, Lee and Catherine co-founded Graphic Rewilding in order to create vast, flower inspired, maximalist, attention grabbing, positivity inducing artworks and immersive environments in unexpected places.
In June 2023, in a review for the Guardian Alice Fisher wrote: ‘Lee Baker and Catherine Borowski have brought delight to many dull urban sites with their work as public art curators. As the driving force behind SKIP Gallery, the pair have had these waste containers turned into houses, libraries and even held art classes in them. But their latest venture gives a new imaginative twist to city landscapes. They’re bringing flowers to the streets with their Graphic Rewilding project.‘
On Wednesday 8 November, we hosted 'Hack Your Happiness Levels in 20 Minutes' a talk by Lee Baker, Co-founder and Curator at SKIP Gallery and Lead Artist at Graphic Rewilding, in which he argued that beauty isn't in the eye of the beholder; it's in the brain. You can watch the recording on our Vimeo Channel vimeo.com/royalsocietyofsculptors
Hack your happiness levels in 20 minutes by Lee Baker
Beauty isn't in the eye of the beholder; it's in the brain, argues Lee Baker, Co-founder and Curator at SKIP Gallery and Lead Artist at Graphic Rewilding. In his talk 'Hack your happiness levels in 20 minutes', Lee explains why he believes that neuro-aesthetics — a combination of "neuroscience, psychology, philosophy and the arts" — can help us understand why and how our brains respond to aesthetic experiences.
Studies have shown that we feel happier simply from looking at pictures of wildlife, a result of our brain’s natural ability to process images of nature better than urban images. Looking at these pictures stimulates the reward centres of our brains more effectively, leading to a sense of relaxation and contentment. It's this belief in artists as unknowing neurologists that inspired Baker to co-found the Graphic Rewilding project, which aims to transform city centres with floral murals — and, he explains, make us all a little happier.