Julian Bailey | Biography

Julian works mainly in oil paint and gouache.He makes small studies on his trips to London,Bath and the West Country with conte pencils. On returning to the studio he will work these drawings up by adding colour & some of these images will go on to form the basis for his larger studio work.

Julian has been painting almost everyday for about thirty years & has developed a very concise style, characterised by his ‘drawing in paint’ approach. This leads to cleanly mixed clear colour, painted with considerable impasto, but separated by scraped back areas. The scraping back allows each mark to ‘stand alone’ & the colour to sing out.
This process of building to great refinement followed by controlled destruction, & lightening speed reconstruction is repeated over the life of the painting until a resolution s finally found. Many pictures fall by the way in the process.

The themes of standing & seated figures, boats & still life have been a preoccupation for many years. Each theme is continuously revisited as new knowledge & insight is bought to bear on the subject. Julian Bailey’s recent work focuses on the contemporary figure, exploring the meeting up of groups of people in bar & cafe society. Painted with characteristically long limbs and angular torsos Julian’s economic use of paint brings out the essential relationships of youthful figures. This collection of work is also based on the courtyard & loggia settings at home. These paintings centre on the relationship between handmade pottery, flowers & herbs. As with the figurative painting, colour is the primary concern, but the sculptural qualities of the form are never sacrificed to this end. The aim being to find a matching resolution of form & colour in space.

Solo Exhibitions

1980
First one man show, Great Malvern

1991–2000
Four one man shows at New Grafton Gallery, London

2008
The Russel Gallery, London

1999, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013
Browse & Darby, London

2009, 2012, 2014
Sladers Yard, Dorset

2017
Browse & Darby, London

2011-2017
Originals Inprint Gallery, Dorset

2021
TableHay Gallery

 

Group Shows

2001–2017
Art Chicago, Browse & Darby

2003
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London

2004
Hunting Art Prize finalist

2007–08
Dorset Visual Art Exhibition, The Study Centre, Poole

2009
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour Bankside Gallery, London

2010
Originals 10 Printmakers Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

2011
Exhibited at the 125th Anniversary Show, Mall Galleries, London
Bite Artists as Printmakers, Mall Galleries, London
Royal Academy Summer Show, London

2012
Lynn Painter-Stainers finalist

2015–2017
Thomas Henry Fine Art, Nantucket, USA

2016–2017
Belgrave Gallery, St Ives

 

Prizes

1984
Egerton Coghill Landscape prize (Oxford University)

1986
Turner Gold Medal (R.A.Schools)

1988
Landseer Scholarship

2011
David Messum Prize, New English Art Club

Manya Igel Prize