NEW/NOW: Paul Baylock

Exhibition Website

May 17 2018 - Oct 21 2018

During the early part of the 20th century, New Britain was known as the "Hardware City” and the "Hardware Capital of the World.” Major manufacturers, such as Stanley Tool, Fafnir, Emhart, and Landers, Frary & Clark were headquartered here, producing tools that were sold worldwide. While many of these factories have since closed, the city retains great pride in its rich industrial legacy.

This legacy is perhaps nowhere better expressed and celebrated than in the vibrant paintings and sculptures of artist Paul Baylock, a New Britain native. Throughout his career, Baylock has drawn his imagery from vintage publications and Popular Mechanics magazines from the period in which he grew up in the 1950s and ‘60s, as well as from New Britain iconography, factory architecture, and locally produced hardware that capture the spirit of the city. By sanding and abrading the surfaces of his brightly hued acrylic and vinyl paintings, Baylock attributes an aura of age to his compositions, evoking faded signs or advertisements from an earlier era, collaged together. 

These layered compositions suggest the changing topography of the city, the passing of time, and the accumulation of memory, and are especially relevant now, given the ongoing demolition of historic factory buildings in New Britain. The artist’s NEW/NOW exhibition will feature a selection of paintings from 2009 to today, including his celebrated “Hardware City” series. The presentation will also include site-specific sculptural installations comprising his collection of New Britain-made meat grinders  and original windows from the Landers, Frary & Clark factory that he acquired while renting a studio there.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.

  • Various Media
  • American
  • Contemporary
  • Design
  • Paul Baylock

Exhibition Venues & Dates