Painting a political statement

Portland artist Bailey Winters is showcasing his work of the past and present in a solo show at PSU’s Littman Gallery titled Bailey Winters: New and Old Work. The exhibition will be on view through Wednesday, Feb. 22, and the artist’s reception will take place Thursday.

The gallery features paintings from three previous shows as well as five new paintings, all of which demonstrate Winters’ well-established and highly visible interest in comic book art, narration and the human figure.

“When viewing a collection of Bailey’s paintings, one can piece together a story in his or her mind about the characters and their lives,” said Chloé Womack, the show’s curator. “It’s a sort of hyper-reality, a world that I would like to be a part of.”

New and Old Work displays pieces that first appeared in Winters’ shows Class (2008), Green Oregon (2009) and Ambush: The Story of the TDA (2010), and it borrows from political iconography depicting situations of highly charged human interaction. His artwork is mostly mixed media and involves the use of photography, line drawing and painting.

“I was initially attracted to Bailey’s juxtaposition of photo-realism, freer mark-making and opaque color blocks,” Womack said. “Bailey’s work and style stands out in Portland. The technical precision and narrative qualities embedded in each piece create a draw that most painters cannot match.”

Winters grew up in Santa Cruz, Calif., and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the California College of Arts in 2003. He currently lives and paints in Portland.

“My mom enrolled me in an after-school painting class when I was five or six, and I really enjoyed it,” Winters said. “I’ve always liked the way paintings look.”

The bulk of Winters’ paintings have bright colors, opaque, blocky lines and photographs of average people. Line drawings of props, clothing and other details embellish the pieces, and each piece is easily recognized as a Bailey Winters original.

“All of the pieces in the show are oil paint on linen. I’ve been experimenting, also, with paint on acetate,” Winters said. “I plan onmaking a short animated film soon, and I’ve been researching the techniques animators used before the advent of computers.”

Winters incorporates heavy underground political statements into his work as well. His most recent show, Ambush: The Story of the TDA, depicted “a fictionalized revolutionary group living on the West Coast of the United States in the early years of the 21st century, explor[ing] the personal dynamics at work in the underground political party; in particular, examin[ing] the organization’s final decision to refuse a non-violent alternative and instead continue with militant reaction.”

Several of the paintings included in New and Old Work contain a political icon or nod to an anti-political action.

“I want the image to be able to hold your attention long enough to tell a story,” Winters said.

Despite his success, Winters still feels the need to experiment and grow artistically.

“My paintings have changed a lot over the years. I just try to keep it fun for myself and experiment with new things,” Winters said. “I also challenge myself. I didn’t know how to paint in a photo-realistic style, so I taught myself.”

Winters admits that he’s produced some “really bad paintings” in his career, but he always tries to build on what he knows.

“The next thing I want to get better at is line drawing,” he added.

Winters has been involved with 24 group shows; New and Old Work marks his ninth solo exhibition. This show has been a long time coming, according to Womack.

“I saw his work in a group show at [Portland Northwest College of Art] in 2009 and at a solo show he had at the New American Art Union in 2010,” Womack said. “I invited Bailey to show in the Littman in 2010, but he did not agree to show until I asked him a second time in 2011.”

Winters is ecstatic to have his work in the Littman Gallery.

“It’s a very beautiful gallery. It pushed me to create five new pieces that I am excited about. [Womack] helped a lot with preparation, and I’m very grateful for all her hard work,” Winters said. “This is the first time I’ve had a show comprised of paintings from multiple previous shows. It includes work from 2008 through 2012, and it’s fun to see the same cast of characters painted over the past five years.”