Leslie Bailey
Aloft RDU
November - January
ARTIST STATEMENT
The act of making a mark on the art surface is the beginning of my creative process. The mark-making could be with graphite, a painted line, a piece of painted paper, or any number of mark-making tools. The act of creating with a particular chosen media leads to an intuitive, creative exploration of those materials. The artistic decision-making in the subsequent layers explores process and product, sometimes by design and sometimes by surprise. Discovering these creative explorations and surprises is why I feel it necessary to create my art.
My art is abstract with an emphasis on expressionism, sometimes focusing on lines and shapes, sometimes including an abstract human form, and sometimes a mixed-media collage with the theme: a political/social/feminist statement.
I want the viewer to experience the painting as a journey through the mark-making, splatters, drips, and/or color changes. I want them to experience the textural changes, the surface treatments, and the small moments within the painting. I want the viewer to question the political/social/feminist female body collages and to influence their thinking and perception.
As a former elementary art educator, I saw many children get lost in the act of creating, simply enjoying moving paint on their paper, and creating marks. This is my reason for creating, to attempt to capture the childlike joy in color, shape, line, pattern, and forms.