Koko Bayer is a Denver-based artist whose work focuses on outdoor installations of printed images. Since 2015 she has installed thousands of temporary outdoor works for her temporary structures project, a collaboration with grandfather Herbert Bayer’s work. Ranging from foot-long prints to large murals, her goal is to “adorn, engage and educate.”
In May of 2020, she began Project Spread Hope a series of installations created in response to the COVID-19 crisis as a reminder of the power of hope. As the COVID crisis unfolded she wanted to create an image that would help people feel better. “I started thinking about what has that effect on me? Topping the list is the color yellow. I love how it amplifies light and mood. It shows up all the time in my work, usually paired with magenta and called pink lemonade. I love how visible and visually uplifting it is and the way it resonates with viewers. The heart, symbolizing the self or spirit, also shows up often in my work. In this print, it represents love, optimism, and empathy. As does the word hope. I chose my grandfather Herbert Bayer's landmark font universal for its clarity.”
Born in France, Bayer moved to Colorado at age six. She studied design, printmaking and filmmaking at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and the New School in New York. Her work has been featured in several mural festivals including BabeWalls 2020, Chrush Walls 2016-2020, StreetWise Boulder 2019/2020, Rocky Mountain Walls, Colorcon, and B-Line Chicago. Solo exhibitions include her two 2020 shows Pink Lemonade Hope in the Freyer – Newman Center at the Denver Botanic Gardens and Souvenirs at Dateline gallery.
She is a member of BagBaySha with artists Chris Bagley and Thomas Scharfenberg. Together they attempt to educate and solve major world issues with art installations. In addition to their 2020 installation Salt and Pepper Ghost for No Place to Go they have done installations at MegaFauna, Alto, and Leon galleries and was the first artist to install work at the Meow Wolf Denver site.
She is currently directing head+heart+hand a documentary exploring Herbert Bayer’s art. The film uses Bayer’s theories on visual communication to explore his diverse and fascinating work.
