Radcliffe Bailey

Radcliffe Bailey (born November 25, 1968 and died November 14, 2023) was an American contemporary visual artist noted for mixed-media, paint, and sculpture works. Quotes I feel like I always have a foot back in time, I’m constantly reminded of the past. It was interesting going through older work and looking at how things have changed. There are parts of it that are very consistent. I’ve never been the kind of person who thought the world was flat. I think, to a degree, people are falling asleep about what has happened. And now certain people and groups are capitalizing on those generations that are somewhat asleep, taking advantage of them and bringing back old, hateful ways. I can say that I don’t jump into politics, that I’m more fascinated with spiritual practices, but how can I not be political right now? ‘I Always Have a Foot Back in Time’: Radcliffe Bailey’s New Show in a Former School Building Turns an Eye on Collective Memory,arnet,(August 6, 2018) The day by day experience of art, even though my work may seem to have this layer of history, is also a cover for what I’m dealing with day to day. It’s very much about today. We were talking about where I go next: I’m still thinking about today and yesterday and what’s coming in front of me tomorrow. Radcliffe Baileyy,Harvard Business School,(2003) The true art teacher I had was my mother,She led me to the well. I’ve learned a lot from this museum, learned a lot about all different types of art and When you have the opportunity to see an artist like Jacob Lawrence… you can foresee it. You have the opportunity to think… this could actually happen [to me]. I use Georgia clay because it’s in my backyard. My backyard is on Civil War grounds―boom. Then I trace that to family members that were in the Civil War… and to my father being a railroad engineer. Atlanta has this interesting past that makes you want to dig deeper and understand what was once there, even though it may be covered…. Sherman burnt down the city. They say when you want to get rid of something, you burn it, but you don’t really get rid of it. I can look out my back door and see a lot. As for style, For me, it’s always been about having conversations with everyone. I don’t want to make work that’s above, that speaks a certain way that a common person couldn’t understand. I’m more concerned with having that conversation. I always come to painting as a sculptor. Everything is based on materials. Painting came to me at the last minute…. That’s why my paintings seem constructed. I am interested in questioning. What is painting? What is sculpture? I can build up paint so it feels like sculpture. I’ve been listening to the sound of the wind and I’ve been listening to my dogs bark at night on a full moon. Of course there are certain jazz musicians and female singers I listen to. I love Sun Ra’s music…. [He] brings together a mixture of time periods, and he fuses them together into something that sounds futuristic. I like to compare my work to that in terms of the sounds and the riffs of different times. And old objects are of great interest. He collects these found objects and adapts them to his work. It’s very much like hip-hop, patching and putting things together quiltlike, using old things to make new things. I’ve always felt like the only way I can heal myself throughout certain things is to go back through my memory, learn from memory. I started making these pieces that were very boxlike. When people look at them they think, ‘Oh, those are some real big frames,’ but they’re actually constructed as medicine cabinets. The idea was… you go into your medicine cabinet to find something to heal you. And I always felt like my memory was my medicine. My desire is just to make art, to make things,I like to think of my artworks as similar to the music of Thelonius Monk…. They're like rituals that just happen. I'm like free jazz. I'm not concerned about where I'm going, just as long as I'm moving forward and documenting life. Memory as Medicine,CENTRES FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION,( February 2012) Category:Artists Category:1963 births Category:2023 deaths Category:Sculptures