Radcliffe Bailey (American, b. 1968)
Contemporary African American artist has noted about his work ““I believe that by making things that are very personal they become universal,” he explained. “I am first and foremost an artist, a person of this world, and an artist of African descent who grew up in the South and has chosen to continue to live and work in the South. My art is about history and the mystery of history.” Known for his complex mixed-media prints with references to his childhood in the South (including tintype photographs of his family), he also pays homage to traditional African sculpture.
Born in New Jersey but raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he was greatly influenced by artists such as James Van Der Zee and Jacob Lawrence, which he saw at the High Museum there during frequent visits with his mother. He received a BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 1991 and has had a productive career with major solo exhibitions including “Memory as Medicine,” a touring show that opened in 2011 at the High Museum. His works are in the permanent collections of major museums around the country including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. just to name a few. He lives and works in Atlanta.
