Julian Bailey

Dorset Summer Show

14 May – 2 July 2022

Julian Bailey is an ambitious highly acclaimed painter whose work we have been pleased to show regularly over a number of years. Recently Julian has been exploring new territory in his work both in terms of style and content. This exhibition includes recent works that combine figure painting with an exciting level of abstraction, including contemporary responses to Thomas Hardy’s novels. Canoeist off Lulworth is a major oil first shown in 2018 which shows the roots of the new work in a glorious symphony of colours that read as a figurative painting of cliffs and sea.

All the paintings are presented framed in good pale wooden frames and are available to buy or reserve now. Please call us on 01308 459511 or email with any enquiries.

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  Bathsheba and Gabriel Oak oil on board 38 x 40cm £3,200

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  From what I could see gouache on paper 29 x 28cm SOLD

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  Moonrise, Egdon Heath 29 x 29cm gouache on paper framed £520

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  Two girls as Tess gouache on paper 24 x 26cm SOLD

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  Dorset estuary gouache on paper 18 x 17cm £390 framed

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  Emerald Stream gouache on paper 15 x 17cm SOLD

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  High above gouache on paper 23 x 20cm £460 framed

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  Canoeist off Lulworth 91.5 x 86 cm oil on board £7,200

‘Whole, true to themselves, emotionally rich and seemingly spontaneous…

‘Bailey’s paintings belong to a world of which he is himself very much a part. His art has the power to strike a rich chord; the ability to evoke the full choreography of life in all its timbre and cadence, light and joy.

‘This is a deeply engaged and deeply engaging painter who has achieved what he set out achieve, namely a truly viable language in paint.’

Extracts from Vivienne Light FRSA’s foreword to the catalogue for Julian Bailey’s At the Waterfront solo show in 2015.

Julian Bailey works in oil on board, enjoying the resistance of the hard surface.  ‘I have a fairly wide range of colours, but try to limit my palette as much as possible in one painting.  I try to keep the colours fresh and clean, using clearly visible brush strokes which define the objects.  I want the finished paintings to look spontaneous with everything in the right place, even if it has taken a lot of time with many changes and repainting.’  The results do look remarkably effortless and spontaneous. His figures seem simple, yet are full of attitude, while his landscapes reach for the anatomy of the countryside to find just as much character and form as there is in his figures. Whatever they may be, the elements of his paintings give the sense of being in that place at that moment, just when everything comes together to make something remarkable.

Artist Julian Bailey lives with his family near Dorchester. Born in 1963, he had his first successful exhibition at Malvern Public Library when he was still at school.  He studied art at the Ruskin School while attending New College, Oxford and then went on to the Royal Academy Schools where he was awarded the Turner Gold Medal and later the Landseer Scholarship.

He had his first one-man show in London in 1991 and has exhibited regularly since, joining Browse & Darby in Cork Street in 1999 as their youngest artist. He and his family moved to Dorset in 1998 when Julian began to paint landscapes, particularly the Dorset coast. In 2011 he was elected to join the New English Art Club and awarded the David Messum Prize. He also won the Manya Igel prize that year. His work is in numerous collections including HRH The Prince of Wales, New College Oxford, Pembroke College Oxford, Reed Executive, Old Mutual Assurance, Daiwa Bank, SG Warburg and more. He has had three solo shows at Sladers Yard and participated in numberous group shows.

To enquire about any of the paintings please phone us on 01308 459511 or email  gallery@sladersyard.co.uk