Bayer's series discussed the ongoing biological and sociological evolution. For studies of the female form, these women would not have existed in the mid-twentieth century prior to the sexual revolution of the 1960s when artists began to reconsider the body as a politicized terrain and explored issues of gender, identity, and sexuality which manifest in the work of Photographers Diane Arbus, Robert Mapplethorpe, Larry Clark, Hannah Wilke and Nan Goldin.
With a successful music video career under his belt, Bayer has received equal acclaim within the commercial world. Well into his second decade of advertising, Bayer's work continues to be recognized. In 1996, his Nike commercial, "If You Let Me Play", won an Association of Independent Commercial Producers Award for Best Direction. In 2011, his Super Bowl spot for Chrysler, "Born of Fire", received multiple awards, including an Emmy and a Cannes Gold Lion.
A prolific music video and commercial Director, Bayer's resume includes Nirvana's music video for "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Blind Melon's "No Rain" video as well as award-winning commercials for brands like Chrysler, Nike, and Coca-Cola. In addition to Nirvana and Blind Melon, Bayer has shot and directed videos for Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, The Cranberries, Green Day, David Bowie, Iron Maiden, Garbage, The Strokes, Metallica, Ramones, The Smashing Pumpkins, Justin Timberlake and My Chemical Romance, among others, in his trademark style. Bayer has won five MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year in 2005 as well as Best Direction in 2005 and 2007.
New Line Cinema and Platinum Dunes selected Bayer to helm their remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Bayer finally agreed to direct the film after a personal plea from Michael Bay, who also was the Producer. With a production budget of $30 million, the film held the number one spot at the US box office in its first week in April 2010. The film starred Academy Award-nominee Jackie Earle Haley and introduced Rooney Mara in her first major studio role.
On March 3, 2013, Bayer opened his first major solo exhibition at ACE Gallery Beverly Hills entitled, "Diptychs & Triptychs". Bayer presented a series of sixteen twelve-foot-tall, female nude triptychs as well as four ten-foot-tall diptych portraits. In an Interview magazine article, Bayer commented that "the initial effect of the portraits are overwhelming, and a bit spooky." Bayer's understanding of Hollywood's constant superficial dissection and scrutinization of women, lead him to strip his subjects of all artifice in order to provide an alternative view of womanhood in contemporary culture. Exposed full frontally, these women might have been perceived as vulnerable on a smaller scale; however, the straight gaze and the enlarged scale creates an intimation of a "new race of superwomen."
