About
Vanessa Baird often uses her own life and experiences to create her works, where women’s lives and the female body are recurring themes. Baird problematizes the many arenas and functions of women, related to motherhood, sexuality, and the tyranny of beauty. She depicts human qualities and actions that are often associated with shame, pain, and immorality.
Viewers are often provoked by unflattering and revealing depictions of the female body. Is it the millennia-old tradition of idealized portrayals of women, made for the amusement and pleasure of a (male) viewer, that makes a less attractive and more realistic depiction so alien?
I Prefer Not is part of a series of delicate watercolour drawings where Baird’s exquisite craft shines through. The drawings are akin to the naïvely idyllic watercolours found in children’s books. Form and function are at odds with eachother, and the jarring incongruence forces us to think.
The picture consists of several small narratives that show a bizarre reality where animals have human qualities, and vice versa. There is a recurring female figure whose facial traits recall those of the artist herself. This somewhat indistinct and shapeless woman is a sort of signature figure in Baird’s watercolours.The figure seems weak-willed and sluggish in her movements, as though she is entirely unable to resist the temptations, desires, and cravings of life.
The cute bunny rabbit that we seem to recall from childhood fairytales has become a sexualized male character. He is also one of the recurring figures in Baird’s visual universe.
- Creation date:
- 1997
- Object type:
- Drawing
- Materials and techniques:
- Blyant og akvarell på papir
- Material:
- Paper
- Dimensions:
- Height: 2430 mm
- Width: 1520 mm
- Keywords:
- Visual art
- Classification:
- 532 - Bildende kunst
- Inventory no.:
- MS-04274-1999
- Cataloguing level:
- Single object
- Acquisition:
- Purchased 1999
- Owner and collection:
- Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design, The Fine Art Collections
- Photo:
- Børre Høstland
- Copyright:
- © Baird, Vanessa/<a href="https://www.bono.no/" target="_blank">BONO</a>
Nasjonalmuseet's collection catalogue is a living resource of information gathered since the 1830's. Some records may contain language or ideas that today could be perceived as outdated, offensive or discriminatory with regard to for instance gender, sexuality, ethnicity or disability, and that may be at odds with the museum's values regarding equality and diversity.
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Other works by Vanessa Baird
Meg selv som soloVanessa Baird1993- You can't keep a good rabbit downVanessa Baird(2002)
You can't keep a good rabbit downVanessa Baird2001
You can't keep a good rabbit downVanessa Baird(2002)
Uten tittelVanessa Baird(2009)
Seven Steps to Heaven (4) (Jesus y Maria volando hacia San Francisco)Vanessa Baird
Seven Steps to Heaven (6) (Here every Bird sings O-Solemio)Vanessa Baird(1996)
Seven Steps to Heaven (5)Vanessa Baird
An amazing thing happened to me: I suddenly forgot which came first, 7 or 8Vanessa Baird2018
Seven Steps to Heaven (3)Vanessa Baird
UntitledVanessa Baird2000
Uten tittelVanessa Baird(2009)





























