Reports indicate that Atlanta-based artist Radcliffe Bailey, 54, has passed away after a long fight with brain cancer. ARTnews said Bailey’s “sculptural assemblages and paintings elegantly summoned the past, present, and future of Black Americans through ready-made objects and images.”
Bailey was born in Bridgetown, New Jersey in 1968, but his family relocated to Atlanta, Georgia when he was four. His father was an engineer, he told Art in America, and his family had aided slaves escape to the North before the Civil War by participating in the Underground Railroad.
His writing would often return to the subject of travel because it was so fascinating to him. In 2021, he told Art in America, “I’ve always been fascinated by different forms of travel, whether it be by sea, by train, or into outer space and other realms.”
In Colombia’s First International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Cartagena de Indias, his massive “Windward Coast” installation was on display. Both the Elizabeth and Mallory Factory Prize for Southern Art (2010) and the Joan Foundation Grant (2008) were awarded to him.
The Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the National Gallery and Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City all have works by Bailey in their permanent collections.
The terminal building at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is one of Bailey’s most well-known works. His artwork “Saints” (made of various media) may be found in Terminal E. Mayor Andre Dickens said Bailey had “shaped Atlanta’s cultural landscape through his own unique, creative genius.
While often bringing the intersectionality of ancestry, race, and art to the forefront of a discussion, his talent was both personal and accessible to our community.” “I had the privilege of visiting with him Friday to express Atlanta’s gratitude for all his contributions to our city,” Dickens said in a statement.
“Our administration has been working with his family and team on a fitting way to honor his incredible life and legacy, and we look forward to sharing those details in the near future. My thoughts are with his family and all who knew and loved him.”
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