Experimental Photographer Wins the Albert J. Turbessi Award at the 47th Chautauqua Exhibition of American Art

3 June 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
James W. Bailey
Force Majeure Studios
2142 Glencourse Lane
Reston, VA 20191
Phone: 703-476-1474
Cell: 504-669-8650
Email: [email protected]
Web site: http://jameswbailey.artroof.com

EXPERIMENTAL PHOTOGRAPHER FROM RESTON WINS THE PRESTIGIOUS ALBERT J. TURBESSI AWARD AT THE 47th CHAUTAUQUA EXHIBITION OF AMERICAN ART

(Reston, Va.) James W. Bailey has been announced as the winner of the prestigious Albert J. Turbessi Award at an awards ceremony held on June 27 for the 47th Chautauqua Exhibition of American Art, in Chautauqua, New York. Organized by the Chautauqua Center for the Visual Arts, this annual exhibition of emerging and established artists is considered to be one of the major surveys of contemporary art in the country.

In May, Bailey’s “Rough Edge Photography” piece, “Woman at the Tomb”, was juried for inclusion in the exhibition by Dr. Donald Kuspit, recognized as one of the leading American art historians and art critics. Kuspit reviewed more than 1,600 entries and selected 75 artists for this year’s exhibition. “I am thrilled to have to been given the honor of receiving this award and very much appreciate Dr. Kuspit’s recognition of my style of experimental photography,” says Bailey. “I am also honored to represent Reston in this exhibition. The philosophical idealism of Reston has been a major source of inspiration for me to go for my dreams. I never expected to juried into this exhibition because it is so competitive. To win the Turbessi Award is beyond my dreams.”

Bailey’s star in the world of fine art photography began to rise earlier this year when he was given an Honorable Mention Award for his “Rough Edge Photography” piece, “Circle Theatre - New Orleans,” at the Bethesda International Photography Competition, by William F. Stapp, the National Portrait Gallery’s first Curator of Photography. Organized by the Fraser Gallery of Bethesda, Maryland, the Bethesda International Photography Competition has quickly become recognized as one of the most competitive juried photography exhibitions in the United States.

Bailey explains that his “Rough Edge Photography” method results in the creation of one-of-a-kind images that cannot be duplicated or reprinted like a standard photograph from a negative. “In the case of ‘Circle Theatre - New Orleans’ and ‘Woman at the Tomb’, for example, I actually melted my original negatives and let the residue drip onto the burned prints. The result is that these particular photographic images that I shot of an old neighborhood theatre sign and a cemetery tomb in New Orleans will be the only ones that will ever exist.”

“Woman at the Tomb” will be on exhibit at the 47th Chautauqua Exhibition of American Art through July 11. The exhibition is being held at the Chautauqua Center for the Visual Arts on the campus of the Chautauqua Institution. For more information, see the Chautauqua Institution’s web site at http://ciweb.org.

Bailey’s “Rough Edge Photography” works, “Circle Theatre - New Orleans”, “Aloha Motel” and “Causeway Storm” will be on view at the Bethesda Fraser Gallery until July 13 as part of the Contemporary Photography Exhibition featuring the award winners from the Bethesda International Photography Competition. An opening reception for this exhibition will take place on July 9, from 6:00 - 9:00 pm at the Bethesda Fraser Gallery. For directions, please see the Fraser Galley’s web sit at http://thefrasergallery.com

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Digital Photo Attached:
1.File name: WOMAN AT THE TOMB.jpg
2.File name: CIRCLE THEATRE - NEW ORLEANS.jpg

For more information about the artist, please see the following web sites: www.jameswbailey.artroof.com or www.leagueofrestonartists.org/bailey.htm

For more information about the 2004 Bethesda International Photography Competition, please see the following web site: www.thefrasergallery.com

Current and Future exhibitions featuring the “Rough Edge Photography” of James W. Bailey:

April 10 - July 10, 2004 - University of Phoenix Northern Virginia Campus Fine Arts Exhibition - Reston, Virginia. Sponsored by the League of Reston Artists.

June 7 - July 6, 2004 - 11th Annual Juried Exhibition of Fine Art - Reston Virginia. Sponsored by the League of Reston Artists.

June 11 - July 13, 2004 - Contemporary Photography Exhibition featuring the Award Winners from the Bethesda International Photography Competition. Sponsored by the Fraser Gallery in Bethesda, Maryland.

June 20 - July 11, 2004 - 47th Chautauqua National Exhibition of American Art. Sponsored by the Chautauqua Center for the Visual Arts in Chautauqua, New York.

July 1 - 31, 2004 - The Annual Judged Photography Exhibition - Reston, Virginia. Sponsored by the League of Reston Artists.

August 1 -7, 2004 - Raw Arts Festival - London, England. Sponsored by the Candid Arts Trust

September 2004 - Solo Exhibition - “The Death of Film” - Margaret W. and Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery/Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, Arlington, Virginia.

January 2005 - Solo Exhibition - “Burnversions” - Reston Community Center at Hunters Woods, Reston, Virginia.

James W. Bailey - Artist Bio
James W. Bailey is an experimental artist, photographer and imagist writer from Mississippi. His art focus includes Littoral Art projects that explore the fleeting moments of cross-cultural communicative intersections; film projects, including the short film, Talking Smack; “Wind Painting”, a unique naturalistic art practice inspired by the vanishing Southern African-American cultural tradition of the Bottle Tree; street photography centered on the hidden cultural edges of inner city New Orleans life; and “Rough Edge Photography”, a hard-edge non-digital photographic style that celebrates the death of 35mm film through the burning, tearing, slashing and violent manipulation of chemically developed negatives and prints.

Bailey’s experimental imagist literary works include, The Black Velvet Smash and the Missing Gospel of William S. Burroughs, Cold Dark Matters, Eastern 304, Killing Film Noir, and, two books of poetry, The Despised American Edition and Southern Standard Time, all published by Force Majeure Press. Bailey has also written a full-length feature film screenplay, The Cold, a crime drama based on a true story set in New Orleans, which is currently in pre-production development.