April 2011

Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg in Spartanburg, SC, Features Works by Aaron Troski and Bailie

The Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg will exhibit, SE7EN, a collaborative portrait series by Aaron Troski and Bailie, on view from Apr. 1 - 28, 2011, at the Guild Gallery in the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, SC. The Guild will host a reception with the artists during the ArtWalk on Thursday, Apr. 21, from 6-9pm.

“The brain child of Bailie,” according to Troski, SE7EN showcases the complementary styles of these two accomplished artists, who are “two sides of the same coin” despite learning of each other’s work only last year. The show’s title alludes to Bailie’s seven nudes in oil paint with copper, silver, and gold leaf applications, which will be juxtaposed with Troski’s images recalling 16th century European painting. But the number seven also serves as a conceptual motif for the exhibit as a whole.

Bailie’s work is as unique as his single name. Equally talented in oils, acrylics, pencil, and sculpture, he has exhibited in several private showings as well as at Princeton University, WSOC-TV in Charlotte, NC, and he has created over three hundred murals across the Upstate. He is as dedicated to teaching others, however, as he is to practicing his own craft. The owner of Bailie Studios in Spartanburg is also on the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Roster of Approved Artists in Education, and he teaches art in numerous workshops, classrooms, and private lessons. A favorite motto sums up Bailie’s view of the personal power of art: “art is limitless; so am I.”

Troski comes to art and to Spartanburg more recently, leaving Ohio and the corporate world to dedicate himself to painting for the past five years. His work, which draws from late Renaissance art, draws on his Catholic upbringing and combines a “primitive style” with mixed-media experimentation. Troski praises the mutual inspiration he and Bailie have found in collaboration. The lively contrast between his “iconic symbolism” and his co-artist’s “precision” has produced a show that is much more than the sum of its parts.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call Robin Els at 864/764-9568.

[ | April 2011 | Feature Articles | Carolina Arts Unleashed | Gallery Listings | Home | ]