Metro D.C. Premiere Solo Exhibition of "Rough Edge Photography" by Experimental Photographer James W. Bailey

EXHIBIT -August 30 - October 1. Opening Reception on September 11.

(Reston, VA) From August 30 through October 1, the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center of the Northern Virginia Community College Alexandria Campus will present a solo exhibition featuring the “Rough Edge Photography” of experimental Mississippi artist, James W. Bailey.

On September 11, 2001, Bailey began experimenting with a creative photographic style he has named, “Rough Edge Photography”. He refers to it as “Rough Edge” because his photographic work, unlike traditional photographs, literally has rough edges, surface abrasions and other caustic protrusions discernable to the eye and touch.

Bailey’s experimental technique involves exploring the “death of chemically developed negatives and prints” through the use of found 35mm source cameras he purchases in thrift stores. His process incorporates the violent manipulation of unexposed film, developed negatives and prints. Undeveloped film may be subjected to intense heat or pin pricks through the film canister. Developed negatives are burned, scratched, slashed or cut, as are the prints. In some cases, the original negative is melted onto the final print. The found camera that is used to shoot a particular narrative series of photographs is frequently smashed upon completion of the series.

“During the year leading up to 9-11, I found myself spending a lot of time revisiting childhood conversations I had in Mississippi with my father, a fireman. He used to reluctantly talk about his experiences of walking through burned homes and seeing the tragedy of family heirlooms that had been destroyed by a fire and dealing with the raw emotions of the victims of fires. When I was 11 years old, I experienced this myself when I participated in rescuing household effects from a burning house near my grandfather’s farm in Mississippi. A box that I pulled from the fire contained a collection of smoldering family photographs. The blistered and burned effects on these photographs left a remarkable and indelible impression on me,” says Bailey.

“For several years prior to 9-11, I had been shooting street life scenes in New Orleans in black and white. During that time I played by all the rules that most serious photographers are taught or learn. I played by the rules until I became bored with them. I felt that the ‘rules’ were constricting my vision. I was also feeling, at the time, the intense heat of the advancements in digital photography and sensed something dreaded in the air: the potential death of 35mm film. The horrific events of 9-11 brought a lot of scattered artistic ideas into absolute focus for me. After that terrible day, I knew that my photographic style would never be the same. ‘Rough Edge Photography’ is my attempt to discover beauty in the death of film. Whether we all realize it nor not, we are witnesses to the final days of the most intense and, in my opinion, the most mystical art form ever created by man: film photography.”

The subjection of Bailey’s film negatives and prints to his process, combined with the destruction of the source camera, results in a unique image that can not be duplicated: each “Rough Edge Photography” piece is an original work of art. The artist does not produce prints or authorized reproductions of his images.

Bailey’s small scale “Rough Edge Photography” images evoke the accidental decayed beauty of blistered film stills projected on a theatre screen when the movie reel stops and the film begins to burn. Known for his deeply personal narrative series that explore the forbidding depths of the inner city of New Orleans, many of his black and white source photographs are shot from the driver’s seat of his automobile as he drives the dangerous streets through brutally impoverished neighborhoods that most of the tourists on Bourbon Street never see. His burned, slashed and violently manipulated chemically developed negatives and prints provocatively capture the transitional movements of disposed people and mythical events through time. Reflecting a cinematic sensibility with his approach, his body of work resonates with an experimental energy and quality reminiscent of the avant-garde films of Stan Brakhage.

Born in Columbus, Mississippi, in 1959, Bailey is a self-taught artist/photographer and an experimental imagist writer. His art focus also 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; and street photography centered on the hidden cultural edges of inner city New Orleans life. 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. He 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.

WHO:
Margaret W. and Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery of the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, Northern Virginia Community College Alexandria Campus. Solo exhibition of the “Rough Edge Photography” of James W. Bailey.

WHAT:
The Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center of the Northern Virginia Community College Alexandria Campus presents, “The Death of Film”, a solo exhibition of the “Rough Edge Photography” of experimental Mississippi artist, James W. Bailey. Bailey’s unique photographic style incorporates the violent scratching, slashing and burning of his prints and negatives.

WHEN:
From August 30 - October 1. Exhibit is free and open to the public. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, September 11 from 1 - 3 pm.

WHERE:
Margaret W. and Joseph L. Fisher Art Gallery of the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center, Northern Virginia Community College Alexandria Campus, 3001 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22311. For directions, see the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center’s web site at http://www.nvcc.edu/alexandria/schlesingercenter/gallery.html

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