William Bailey

About

The current exhibition features Bailey’s recent work, including still life, figures-in-landscape and figures-in-interior paintings and a single portrait. Characteristically, all of the works are composed soley from Bailey’s imagination, therefore familiar figures and objects often recur in his work throughout his career. Over time the figures and objects evolve and change with considered adjustments in shape, detail and position.  In three of the exhibition’s still lifes, titled Septet I, II, III, seven similar objects (a bowl, a cup, a candlestick and four eggs) inhabit each painting, albeit in unique compositions.Although his places seem timeless, the modern world creeps in to his Umbrian landscapes. In Dreaming in Umbria, the figure holds a cigarette; in Cellular as the title indicates, the figure holds a cell phone. Bailey notes, “I believe that an artist should be of his time. This doesn’t mean that his time must be the subject of his work.”