Freddie Baer

Media, Reviews, Studies about Freddie

Reviews & Criticism

  • “Review of Ecstatic Incisions“, Freedom, vol. 53 no. 19 (March 10, 1992). “Over the last decade her illustrations, ranging from the bitingly political to the sublimely surreal, have appeared in all manner of places: from works by the publishers of Semiotexte, Fifth Estate, Factsheet Five and Anarchy, to magazine and record covers, t-shirts and posters. This is her first collection of collage work, and very fine it is too.”
  • Just Say No (July 1992) – “A beautifully produced book on the collage work of Freddie Baer with a preface by Peter Lamborn Wilson. … To complement the often stunning montage graphics are collaborative poems, rants and texts, inc. Hakim Bey. … A charming collection.”
  • Interzone, July 1992 – “Freddie Bear is a contribute to Interzone as well as SF Eye and other magazines; we recommend her work highly.”
  • Profane Existence #15 (Summer 1992) – “If you’ve ever flipped through an issue of Anarchy or Fifth Estate or you have the Political Asylum lp, chances are you’ve seen the work of Freddie Baer, collage constructor extraordinaire. This book is a collection of some of her best collages, mostly done between 1988 and 1991. What she does with scissors and glue and a bunch of 19th century wood carvings or contemporary photography is amazing, as the cover piece testifies. Along with dozens of her collages (many of which were originally t-shirt designs, meaning you probably haven’t already seen most of them), there are also a few collaborative pieces (someone else’s writing and her collages) and a cool 20-questions interview with her at the beginning of the book. It’s cool to have people like her in the anarchist community (check out with she did with George Bradford’s “The Triumph of Capital” in the Spring 1992 issue of Fifth Estate — excellent), especially because she doesn’t rehash the same tired old graphics, but is constantly creating new images (ironically, out of old stuff). The only drawback to this book is the $12 cover price — ouch. The best thing about it is the emphasis on the democracy of collage art — anyone can cut and paste — and the way she smashes the elitism of the artist. That’s the key theme to this book, and whether you like her work or not, we’d all do well to give serious consideration to the idea of democratizing art and hell, maybe even getting the scissors out of the drawer and seeing what we can do.”
  • “Ecstatic Incisions by Freddie Baer“, Socialist (Sept. 1992) – “Revolutionary coffee-table book of the month.”
  • Ray Violet, Tribune: Labour’s Independent Weekly, #18 (Sept. 1992) – “This sublimely provocative collection is another step forward for surrealism.”
  • Charlotte Ross, “Ecstatic Incisions“, Harpies & Quimes #3 (October 1992) – “Anarchism and Feminism are interwoven in these powerful anti-establishment, anti-patriarchal, strongly pro-woman images. At first glance the collection is easy to dismiss as resting on the laurels of the elaborate etchings from which many of the collages spring. But these images grow on you and you soon realise that much more complex processes are at work. She has taken very traditional, conservative images and created from them witty, anarchic, shocking and beautiful viewing. She interposes a huge Boadicean women [sic] behind an American cityscape with the caption ‘Don’t Fuck with Mother Nature.’ Another page shows a detailed biological drawing of female genitalia on an ornate background bearing the words ‘Read Our Lips: We Demand Choice.’ At first glance the meanings nearly escape your notice but something always draws you back just in time. Other pictures are more delicate or surreal but nearly all excite the senses in one way or another. Freddie’s book brims with ecstatic female sexuality and incisive social comment. My tip is to leave it on your coffee table or beside the loo if you’re a coward!”
  • SF Weekly, May 20, 1993
  • Heaven Bone (#10) – Steve Hirsch, “Baer’s collages juxtapose graceful archetypal medievel [sic] figures and nudes beside the charged symbols of modern technological and industrial life, urging us to think on where we have come from and where we are going and what choices we have surrendered and must visually reclaim in order to fight political lethargy. Being anarchistic and essentially radical, there is a huge comfort in viewing these collages, knowing that there is no random wisdom here but a vision as deliberate as her scissors are sharp.”
  • GirlFrenzy #3, “Cut-Up Women: The Work of Freddie Baer and Anna Pedroza”, pp. 16-17 [PDF of review and inscription to Freddie]
  • Artpolitik: Social Anarchist Aesthetics in an Age of Fragmentation by Neala Schleuning (Minor Compositions / Autonomedia, 2013), Chapter 8: Social Anarchist Aesthetics in an Age of Fragmentation, pp. 233-285.
  • Yetta Howard, “Unsuitable for Children? Adult-erated Age in Underground Graphic Narratives”, American Literature, v.90, n.2 (June 2018) (discussing Pussycat Fever, text by Kathy Acker and illustrations by Freddie Baer and Diane DiMassa).
  • “Collage Art Influences: Freddie Baer”, Art Pirate @ YouTube (2024)
  • obituaries: 2025/11/15 (for facebook)

Interviews

Fictional & Literary Representations

  • “The Bolder Piece” by Leslie Fish (song about Freddie’s anti-rape action in the early 1970s)

Exhibitions, Events, Collections

  • Booksigning Party and Art Show, featuring the Collages of Freddie Baer, Phil Lollar, and Johann Humyn Being, April 1st, 1992, Adobe Bookshop, 3166 16th Street, San Francisco
  • Booksigning, May 1, 1992, Bound Together Bookstore, San Francisco
  • “Fragmentary Pleasures”, An erotic photocollage collaboration by artist Freddie Baer and photographer Leah Rachel, June / July / August 1993 at Good Vibrations, 1210 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA
  • “Fever of Scissors and Glue: The Collages of Freddie Baer and James Koehnline”, July 1 to 30, 1994, Space for Dance Gallery (Watts-Hardy Dairy), 2590 Walnut Street, Boulder, Colorado. Opening reception for the artists, Friday, July 15, 5 p.m. featuring readings and performances by Peter Lamborn Wilson, Mark America, Thelemonade, and students of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. Fever of Scissors and Glue is presented by Jennifer Heath and The Naropa Institute.
  • 2001, “consumption”, for Drawing Resistance: A Traveling Political Art Show, 2001-2005 (https://drawingresistance.org/, Internet Archive Wayback Machine 2004)
  • 2022, Oakland Museum “Hella Feminist” exhibit. “Read OUR Lips” collage.