Exhibition Dates: Saturday March 1 – 29, 2008
Location: Arthur Roger Gallery, 432 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 1, 6 – 8 pm
Gallery Hours: Monday – Saturday 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of mixed media works by Radcliffe Bailey, including recently completed slave ship sculptures. The exhibition will be on view at the Arthur Roger Gallery at 432 Julia Street from March 1st – 29th, 2008. Mr. Bailey will be in attendance at the opening reception hosted by the gallery on Saturday, March 1st, from 6 to 8 pm.

Bailey’s paintings and sculptures are multi-layered narratives that probe both the history of African-Americans as well as the artist’s own personal experiences and influences. He uses his archive of ancestral photographs as collage materials in several of the works in the exhibition. Bailey’s recent work particularly references slavery, the Underground Railroad and the vision of Marcus Garvey.

Terrie Sultan, Director of the Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston, wrote in a catalogue essay on the artist:

Radcliffe Bailey seeks to understand the present by massaging the past experiences of his forebears. He does this through a performative and expressionistic iconography that is seductively beautiful in terms of form qualities of color and composition and deeply engaging in content.

Bailey’s work makes vital connections between art and life, people and the land, ancestors and their descendants. “Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and great-grandparents,” Bailey says, “and I feel like that’s lost in most families today. In my art I try to restore some of the lost kinship between people.”

In this exhibition there are classic Radcliffe Bailey works from several years ago, as well as recent works indicative of a new direction, but one that shows evidence of the artist’s mastery of formal balance, rhythm and vivid color.

Born in 1968 in New Jersey, Radcliffe Bailey now lives and works in Atlanta. He earned a BFA from Atlanta College of Art in 1991. His work is in numerous permanent collections including The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Smithsonian Institution.

For additional information please contact the Arthur Roger Gallery at 504.522.1999 or visit our Web site www.arthurrogergallery.com.