Bailin Studio

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2015 – 2019

The Erasing

In his artist statement about his current drawing series, "The Erasing," Bailin, 62, writes: "As an artist who witnessed the waning of my father’s personhood through the dissolution of his memory, I wrestled with how to convey the devastating personal and human experience of memory loss without relying on visual clichés." The answer to that question is revealed in the creative process of the artworks of "The Erasing": draw, erase part of the drawing, repeat, repeat, repeat.

— Ellis Widner • Into The Void • 2017

The Erasing

  •  JACKSON HEIGHTS • 2019 •  Charcoal, Pastel, Colored Pencils, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 59 x 75½ inches [150 x 192 cm]

    JACKSON HEIGHTS • 2019 • Charcoal, Pastel, Colored Pencils, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 59 x 75½ inches [150 x 192 cm]

  •  GRADUATION • 2018 • Charcoal, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 69½ x 82½ inches [177 x 2107 cm]

    GRADUATION • 2018 • Charcoal, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 69½ x 82½ inches [177 x 2107 cm]

  •  PATIO • 2018 • Charcoal, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 52 x 54 inches [132 x 137 cm]

    PATIO • 2018 • Charcoal, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 52 x 54 inches [132 x 137 cm]

  •  REFLECTION • 2018 • Charcoal, Acrylic, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 54 x 81½ inches [1137 x 206 cm]

    REFLECTION • 2018 • Charcoal, Acrylic, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 54 x 81½ inches [1137 x 206 cm]

  •  GAZEBO • 2018 • Charcoal, Acrylic, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 83 x 93½ inches [210 x 237 cm]

    GAZEBO • 2018 • Charcoal, Acrylic, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 83 x 93½ inches [210 x 237 cm]

  •  TRICYCLE • 2018 • Charcoal, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 78 x 83 inches [198 x 211 cm]

    TRICYCLE • 2018 • Charcoal, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 78 x 83 inches [198 x 211 cm]

  •  PODIUM • 2018 • Charcoal, Acrylic, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 83 x 91 inches [211 x 231 cm]

    PODIUM • 2018 • Charcoal, Acrylic, Colored-pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 83 x 91 inches [211 x 231 cm]

  •  THE TOAST • 2018 • Charcoal, Colored-Pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 82 x 94 inches [183 x 226 cm]

    THE TOAST • 2018 • Charcoal, Colored-Pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 82 x 94 inches [183 x 226 cm]

  •  INLAWS • 2018 • Charcoal, Colored-Pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 89 inches [183 x 226 cm]

    INLAWS • 2018 • Charcoal, Colored-Pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 89 inches [183 x 226 cm]

  •  FORGOTTEN • 2017 • Charcoal, Colored-Pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 83 x 84¾ inches [211 x 215 cm]

    FORGOTTEN • 2017 • Charcoal, Colored-Pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 83 x 84¾ inches [211 x 215 cm]

  •  BOUQUET • 2017 • Charcoal, Colored-Pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 74½ x 83¾ inches [189 x 213 cm]

    BOUQUET • 2017 • Charcoal, Colored-Pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 74½ x 83¾ inches [189 x 213 cm]

  •  GHOST • 2017 • Charcoal, Acrylic, Colored-Pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 74½ x 83¾ inches [189 x 213 cm]

    GHOST • 2017 • Charcoal, Acrylic, Colored-Pencil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 74½ x 83¾ inches [189 x 213 cm]

  •  PARTY • 2017 • Charcoal, Pastel, Colored Pencils, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 81 x 83 inches [206 x 211 cm]

    PARTY • 2017 • Charcoal, Pastel, Colored Pencils, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 81 x 83 inches [206 x 211 cm]

  •  WORLD'S FAIR • 2017 • Charcoal, Pastel, Colored Pencils, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 81 x 81 inches [206 x 206 cm]

    WORLD'S FAIR • 2017 • Charcoal, Pastel, Colored Pencils, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 81 x 81 inches [206 x 206 cm]

  •  505 • 2017 • Charcoal, Pastel, Colored Pencils, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 81 x 83 inches [206 x 211 cm]

    505 • 2017 • Charcoal, Pastel, Colored Pencils, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 81 x 83 inches [206 x 211 cm]

  •  COFFEE CUP • 2017 • Charcoal, Pastel, Acrylic, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 73 inches [183 x 185 cm]

    COFFEE CUP • 2017 • Charcoal, Pastel, Acrylic, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 73 inches [183 x 185 cm]

  •  PASSOVER • 2017 • Charcoal, Pastel, Acrylic, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 107 inches [183 x 272 cm]

    PASSOVER • 2017 • Charcoal, Pastel, Acrylic, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 107 inches [183 x 272 cm]

  •  HALLOWEEN • 2016 • Charcoal, Pastel, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 78½ x 81½ inches [199 x 207 cm]

    HALLOWEEN • 2016 • Charcoal, Pastel, and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 78½ x 81½ inches [199 x 207 cm]

  •  LAKE • 2016 • Charcoal, Pastel, Acrylic and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 79 x 85 inches [201 x 216 cm]

    LAKE • 2016 • Charcoal, Pastel, Acrylic and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 79 x 85 inches [201 x 216 cm]

  •  RAKING LEAVES • 2016 • Charcoal, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 79 inches [183 x 201 cm]

    RAKING LEAVES • 2016 • Charcoal, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 79 inches [183 x 201 cm]

  •  NEW HOUSE • 2016 • Charcoal, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 80 inches [183 x 203 cm]

    NEW HOUSE • 2016 • Charcoal, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 80 inches [183 x 203 cm]

  •  LAMP • 2016 • Charcoal, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 79 x 84 inches [183 x 208 cm] •
Private Collection, NC

    LAMP • 2016 • Charcoal, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 79 x 84 inches [183 x 208 cm] • Private Collection, NC

  •  SOFA • 2015 • Charcoal, Oil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 79 x 84 inches [201 x 213 cm] •
Private Collection, NC

    SOFA • 2015 • Charcoal, Oil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 79 x 84 inches [201 x 213 cm] • Private Collection, NC

  •  RED TIE • 2015 • Charcoal, Oil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 84 inches [183 x 213 cm]

    RED TIE • 2015 • Charcoal, Oil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 72 x 84 inches [183 x 213 cm]

  •  FLOAT • 2015 • Charcoal and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 52 x 54 inches [132 x 137 cm] • Private Collection, Detroit

    FLOAT • 2015 • Charcoal and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 52 x 54 inches [132 x 137 cm] • Private Collection, Detroit

  •  PANES • 2015 • Charcoal and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 52 x 54½ inches [132 x 138 cm]

    PANES • 2015 • Charcoal and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 52 x 54½ inches [132 x 138 cm]

  •  PILLOW • 2015 • Charcoal, Oil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 54 x 79 inches [137 x 201 cm]

    PILLOW • 2015 • Charcoal, Oil, Pastel and Coffee on Prepared Paper • 54 x 79 inches [137 x 201 cm]


Bailin Studio Logo image

Exhibition Panel Discusses the Gatherings


Bailin Studio Logo image

Statement

I have never thought much about the role memory plays in the preservation and continuity of one’s identity. As an artist who witnessed the waning of my father’s personhood through the dissolution of his memory, I wrestled with how to convey the devastating personal and human experience of memory loss without relying on visual clichés.

The final image in my drawings is largely the result of the pentimenti that moved the narrative along but did not resolve it. Sometimes, instead, the layers of earlier drawings overpower the last, like quicksand under a surface of marks and erasures.

Those unresolved drawings, with stratum of partially rendered scenes and gestures, were the visual and technical cues for the Erasing series. The frustration of trying to define what was unformed yet intimated by what appeared earlier–the back-and-forth process of drawing in and erasing out, having an idea or image revealing itself one minute only to fall back into obscurity the next–mimicked what I saw happen to my father in his heroic effort to recognize in the moment his own narrative.

This series is the result of my final collaboration with my father.

As with his memories, only the ghosts are left.

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