Radcliffe Bailey

Radcliffe Bailey was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey on November 25, 1968.{{cite web | url=http://www.jackshainman.com/artists/radcliffe-bailey/ | title=Radcliffe Bailey - Jack Shainman Gallery | work=Jack Shainman Gallery | accessdate=9 February 2020}}{{Cite book |last=Okwu |first=Julian C. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZ0aAQAAIAAJ&q=Radcliffe+Bailey+November+25+,+1968 |title=Face Forward: Young African American Men in a Critical Age |date=March 1997 |publisher=Chronicle Books |isbn=978-0-8118-1631-1 |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Radcliffe Bailey (American, b.1968) |url=https://collection.mcnayart.org/persons/1426/radcliffe-bailey-american-b1968 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=McNay Art Museum |language=en}} At age four, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia. His interest in art was galvanised by childhood visits to the High Museum of Art and drawing classes he later took at the Atlanta College of Art.{{Cite news |title=Radcliffe Bailey: Memory as Medicine |language=en-US |work=High Museum of Art |url=https://www.high.org/exhibition/radcliffe-bailey/ |access-date=9 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128075852/https://www.high.org/exhibition/radcliffe-bailey/ |archive-date=28 January 2023}} He cited Atlanta's history with civil rights and the Civil War as artistic inspirations.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/radcliffe-bailey-exhibition-evokes-the-harsh-history-of-slavery/2017/06/28/e3ad8554-4c87-11e7-9669-250d0b15f83b_story.html|title=Review {{!}} Radcliffe Bailey exhibition evokes the harsh history of slavery|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2018-09-25}} Bailey received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1991 from the Atlanta College of Art.

From 2001 to 2006, he taught at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bridgettemayergallery.com/artists/radcliffe-bailey/biography|title=Biography - Radcliffe Bailey|website=www.bridgettemayergallery.com|access-date=9 February 2020}}

File:Untitled Radcliffe Bailey 2009 at NGA.jpg in Washington, D.C., in 2022]]

Bailey was trained as a sculptor but experimented with paint and mixed media.{{Cite web|url=https://fac.umass.edu/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=DIOTRadcliffeBaileyBiography|title=Radcliffe Bailey Biography|website=fac.umass.edu|access-date=2018-03-26}} He worked within the convergence of painting and sculpture, utilizing items such as vintage photographs of his family, vinyl records, piano keys, and bottlecaps. Thematically, his art explores the intersection of ancestry, race, and cultural memory.{{Cite news|url=http://www.gibbesmuseum.org/news/radcliffe-bailey-pensive/|title=Radcliffe Bailey: Pensive {{!}} Gibbes Museum of Art|date=2018-05-03|work=Gibbes Museum of Art|access-date=2018-09-25|language=en-US}} In 2003, he adopted a style of art conceptually inspired by Kongo minkisi, which he described as being "medicine cabinet sculptures." As a result, his work has been described as being three-dimensional and layered, incorporating elements of smell and sound. In a 2013 interview, Bailey described his creative process and fascination with the connection between past and present, stating: "The day by day experience of art, even though my work may seem to have this layer of history, it is also a cover for what I’m dealing with on a 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." He was largely inspired by historical figures, citing individuals such as George Washington Carver and Charleston-based blacksmith Philip Simmons as sources of inspiration.

His large-scale installation Windward Coast (2009–2011), was presented as part of the First International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia. In 2023, Bailey's work was included in the collective exhibition Spirit in the Land organized by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and later exhibited at the Pérez Art Museum Miami in 2024. The show talks about the natural environments of the United States and that of the Caribbean in relation social and cultural aspects.{{Cite web |title=Spirit in the Land |url=https://nasher.duke.edu/exhibitions/spirit-in-the-land/ |access-date=2024-02-28 |website=Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Spirit in the Land • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/exhibition/spirit-in-the-land/ |access-date=2024-02-28 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |last=Schoonmaker |first=Trevor |title=Spirit in the land: Exhibition, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 2023 |date=2023 |publisher=Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University |isbn=978-0-938989-45-5 |location=Durham, North Carolina}}

He was recognized for his artistic contributions, receiving the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant in 2008 and the Elizabeth and Mallory Factory Prize for Southern Art in 2010.

On June 27, 2009, Bailey married American actress, dancer, and producer Victoria Rowell. The wedding was announced in The New York Times. The couple divorced in 2014.{{cite web |date=January 2, 2014 |title='Young and Restless' Star My Marriage Has Been Cancelled |url=http://www.tmz.com/2014/01/02/victoria-rowell-young-and-restless-star-divorce/ |accessdate=24 September 2016 |work=TMZ}} Bailey later married Leslie Campbell Parks, daughter of photographer Gordon Parks.{{Cite web |last=Dafoe |first=Taylor |date=2018-08-06 |title='I Always Have a Foot Back in Time': Radcliffe Bailey's New Show in a Former School Building Turns an Eye on Collective Memory |url=https://news.artnet.com/partner-content/1329452 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}} Bailey had two children, a son and a daughter.

Radcliffe Bailey died on November 14, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia, after battling brain cancer. He was 54.{{Cite web |last=Edward |first=Roz |date=2023-11-15 |title=Famed Artist Radcliffe Bailey Dies |url=https://atlantadailyworld.com/2023/11/15/famed-artist-radcliffe-bailey-dies/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Atlanta Daily World |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Greenberger |first=Alex |date=2023-11-15 |title=Radcliffe Bailey, Artist Who Found Black History in the Everyday, Dies at 55 |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/radcliffe-bailey-dead-1234686877/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=ARTnews.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Haggard |first=Hannah Grace |date=2023-11-15 |title=Atlanta Artist Radcliffe Bailey Dies At 55 |url=https://thegeorgiasun.com/2023/11/15/atlanta-artist-radcliffe-bailey-dies-at-55/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Georgia Sun |language=en-us}}

Bailey held solo exhibitions of his work at many galleries and institutions including:{{cite web|title=Radcliffe Bailey|url=http://www.artnet.com/artists/radcliffe-bailey/biography|publisher=Artnet Worldwide Corporation|accessdate=20 December 2017}}

• The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina, ARTCurrents II: Radcliffe Bailey (1992)
• TULA Foundation Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia, Radcliffe Bailey: Places of Rebirth (1992)
• Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, Spiritual Migration (2001)
• Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts & Culture, Charlotte, North Carolina, Between Two Worlds: The Art of Radcliffe Bailey (2009)
• High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia: Art of an Ancient Soul (2010), Radcliffe Bailey: Memory as Medicine (2011){{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/arts/design/high-museum-in-atlanta-shows-radcliffe-baileys-art.html?_r=0 | title=In the Picture: Atlanta, Africa and the Past | work=The New York Times | date=30 June 2011 | accessdate=9 February 2020}}
• Bridget Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Notes (2015)
• Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Radcliffe Bailey: Recent Works (2015)
• SCAD Museum of Art Savannah, Georgia, Pensive (2018)

Bailey's work is held in many permanent collections including:{{cite web |title=Collection/Radcliffe Bailey |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!/search?q=radcliffe%20bailey&perPage=20&sortBy=Relevance&sortOrder=asc&offset=0&pageSize=0 |accessdate=20 December 2017 |publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art}}

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY.
• The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.
• The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.{{Cite web |title=Artist Info |url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.40869.html |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=www.nga.gov}}
• The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
• The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
• The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
• The Denver Art Museum, Colorado
• The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
• Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

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Category:1968 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:People from Bridgeton, New Jersey

Category:Artists from Atlanta

Category:African-American artists

Category:American contemporary artists

Category:African-American contemporary artists

Category:Atlanta College of Art alumni

Category:American mixed-media artists

Category:21st-century African-American artists

Category:20th-century African-American artists

Category:Deaths from brain cancer in the United States

Category:Deaths from cancer in Georgia (U.S. state)