Baptiste was born outside of Paris on October 11th 1977. His family immigrated to the U.S in 1984 at the age of seven. While trying to adapt to his new environment and language, he met a classmate from Japan named Ryuzo who had also just arrived to the U.S. Not being able to communicate through language, the two of them started to draw together. Eventually starting a drawing club at school, mostly inspired by Japanese comics and animations.
Growing up in the confines of NYC’s white suburbs, he became increasingly fascinated by indigenous people and their art, from Africa to Asia. His grandfather being a serious collector in the North of France, Baptiste was exposed to a rich variety of European paintings and sculptures. His father, a physicist, with enormous respect, and curiosity for the natural world, was also a major influence on Baptiste and his work.
Graduating from The Rhode Island School of Design with BFA in painting in 2000, Baptiste was very inspired by the underground art and music scene happening in Providence around that time. With a strong community of artists living on the west side of Providence, he built himself a live/work space in Atlantic Mills, around the corner from the infamous “Fort Thunder”(an experimental space and collective of artists and musicians). Providence, with its healthy and vibrant little artist community, was the perfect place for Ibar to develop his work and vision.
In 2004, he moved to Brooklyn to join his siblings. After a year in Brooklyn, he spend the summer renovating a barn in Connecticut, outside of New Haven, were he decided to stay and build himself a studio away from distractions of NYC.
During the fall of 2004, Baptiste got a call from the director Michel Gondry about doing a series of disaster paintings, which he needed for his film “the science of sleep”. Gondry, who intended on doing the disaster paintings himself, realized he had his hands full (being the writer and director of the film) and remembered being fascinated by the paintings of Ibar. After spending some time on Baptiste’s website, Gondry felt a strong connection to the paintings and decided to ask Ibar to join his team of talented artists doing handmade work for the film.
Since the release of the film “The science of sleep” and the Michel Gondry Exhibition at Deitch Projects, which featured the Disasterology Calendar, Baptiste has been busy with one project or after the next. He did a large-scale public work commission from an NEA grant for Artspace, New Haven, Titled “Ghost tree” and a solo show at Glenn Horowitz bookseller in East Hampton. His paintings are included in private and corporate collections all over the world.
Presently, Ibar is working between his barn in CT and his studio in Brooklyn.