Radcliffe Bailey: Pensive

Pensive showcases recent work by internationally renowned, Atlanta-based artist Radcliffe Bailey. A painter, sculptor, and mixed media artist, Bailey layers imagery, culturally resonant materials, and text to explore the themes of ancestry, race, and memory. Central to the exhibition is a site-specific installation titled Storm at Sea in which Bailey utilizes piano keys, an African sculpture, and a glitter-covered ship to suggest motifs associated with the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Additionally, a cast bronze sculpture depicting African American civil rights activist and author W.E.B. Du Bois in the pose of Rodin’s The Thinker is situated among a selection of recent mixed media wall artworks. These works focus on the artist’s material lexicon, including wool military blankets, canvas tarps, Georgia red clay, vintage photographs, taxidermy, black paint, and steel. In 2010, Bailey was named winner of the 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art awarded annually by the Gibbes. This exhibition is organized by the SCAD Museum of Art and is made possible by Radcliffe Bailey and the Jack Shainman Gallery. The Gibbes presentation is sponsored by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Jane Smith Turner Foundation, and Charleston City Paper