Artist Statement

I create work that aims to generate empathetic conversations about human experience. I construct immersive environments that my viewers confront their own realities through. I search for new ways to represent visceral experiences using color, mark, media, and composition.

In my practice, I use representational imagery to ground the viewer and create a sense of nostalgia and familiarity. The abstract elements and unstable grounds disrupt this sense, forcing the viewer to examine the tone of the piece. I use research as a basis for my methodology, but allow my interpretation and personal associations to dictate what is actually represented.

My practice is used as a method of expression that strives to connect with my viewers on an intimate level. In exploring my own experiences—ranging from the basic sensations of anxiety and depression to transitions of relationships and evolutions of self—I seek to create an avenue for individuals to find themselves in. These experiences are often ones which I have a difficult time expressing directly. In translating them to visual works, I am able to have a conversation through and about them. In these conversations, I have found that many individuals are able to relate to these experiences, as well as the feelings of isolation that often come with them. I take these feelings and present them in an effort to help myself and others accept them. I choose to focus on the individual, reaffirming the importance of the quotidian and self.

About the Artist:

Rachael Bailey recently moved to Hackettstown, New Jersey. She is originally from New Albany, IN and graduated from Indiana University Southeast with BFAs in Drawing and in Painting, as well as an Art History Minor. She works with mixed media to make pieces which bring realism and abstract methods together to create a visceral experience, exploring her personal experiences and visually representing the emotions which accompany them. She has shown multiple times in solo exhibitions, two person exhibitions, and juried and group exhibitions. Her work has received awards in several juried shows, she has been granted a research fellowship to pursue her work with, and has presented her work and artistic concepts on numerous occasions, both to the academic world and the broader public. She has also taught classes and workshops, both in the academia fields and community art centers.