Civitates Orbis Terrarum : Current Exhibitions : MOCA Jacksonville

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Civitates Orbis Terrarum

Recent Drawings by John Bailly

April 25, 2008 — August 31, 2008

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In Civitates Orbis Terrarum (Cities of the World) artist John Bailly examines the relationship of place and time in his many multi-layered compositions. Bailly’s works depict cities derived from ancient maps and atlases that have either been decisive in shaping world history, conquered culturally or militarily, or were literally destroyed. His imagery is also derived from sources such as religion, history, wars and science. The over-arching idea of man’s self-annihilation is persistently evident in Bailly’s oeuvre. His work also captures the possibility of an even greater threat to humanity, a catastrophic presence that challenges our perceptions of current events and their impact on the future.

The monochromatic works, on both canvas and paper, comprising Civitates reflect the artist’s intentional reduction of color in an effort to emphasize drawing as the central feature of his compositions. With the absence of color, Bailly’s skillful use of line, shading and improvisational mark-making is further accentuated. Characteristic of the artist’s works are densely layered images that convey a barrage of what seems to be unrelated visual information. Bailly’s juxtaposition of imagery underscores his belief that perception is subjective. This is perhaps the artist’s attempt to explain the constant state of distraction prevalent in our fast-paced society.

In addition to many new large-scale works included in Civitates are also selections from the artist’s Place of Mind series. These works are the result of collaboration with critically acclaimed Cuban-American poet Richard Blanco. The drawings and paintings composing Place of Mind include maps of various cities, figurative elements, random images and hand-drawn text that are visual responses to Blanco’s poems.

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