Joseph Bellows Gallery presents an online exhibition of Oscar Bailey ‘s work : Abstract. Back in 1960, John Canady wrote:
Oscar Bailey’s Paint Surface is an abstraction that also intensifies our response to reality, in this case not by evoking or reinforcing associations already formed, but by revealing a new aspect of something so familiar that we never look at it for ourselves.
Obviously the camera’s limitation is that it must begin with the world of literal fact and cannot go much beyond it without violating its own integrity. But the artist-photographer’s perception of inner meanings in his subject may even be increased when, to record it, he must work within this limitation. I suspect that we could muster arguments, from this beginning, to show that photography rather than painting is the legitimate art of our technological century. But I am not going to do so.
– John Canady, Art Critic of the New York Times, for Art In America, Spring, 1960
The spring-tight line between reality and the photograph has been stretched relentlessly, but it has not been broken, These abstractions of nature have not left the world of appearances; for to do so is to break the camera’s strongest point – its authenticity.
– Minor White, 1950
Oscar Bailey (American, 1925-2010), earned a Bachelor of Arts from Wilmington College in Ohio in 1951, and in 1958, graduated from the Master of Fine Arts program at Ohio State University with a degree in photography. After graduation he began teaching at the University of Buffalo, New York, where he taught from 1958-1969. During this time he became a founding member of the Society for Photographic Education (1962), working to develop new directions in photographic education. In 1969, Bailey left Buffalo to start the photography program at the University of South Florida, where he taught until his retirement in 1985. While at USF, Bailey became an active participant in the Graphicstudio program, contributing his photographic expertise to a number of projects, including those with James Rosenquist, Robert Rauchenberg and Ed Ruscha.
Joseph Bellows Gallery
7661 Girard Ave.
La Jolla, CA 92037
www.josephbellows.com
