VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

G Gallery in the Heights presents the exhibition Bill Hailey: SPLENDiculous Love, Death and Exponential Nirvana.  On view January 3 through January 25.

“There are 3 key rules for painting a picture, just like for living life. Unfortunately, no one is really sure what they are.”

-- Bill Hailey

G Gallery Houston is pleased to announce the opening of Love, Death and Exponential Nirvana, Bill Hailey’s second solo exhibition at the gallery.

The exhibition will feature a new series of paintings as well as a major new cycle of mixed media prints.

In his new paintings Hailey continues to investigate themes of spiritual power and sexual symbolism, evincing his enduring fascination with the existential challenges and ineffable mysteries of the human figure and psyche. ­­

He creates a darkly comic psychological universe with references to physical and social conundrums, as well as the commonality of human experience.

Hailey’s work confronts viewers with imagery that is simultaneously sensual, humorous, repellant and strangely familiar, in compositions that expand to communicate a sweeping range of emotions. The paintings combine art historical references with a personal narrative, investigating contemporary myth making, along with an undercurrent of hidden desire.

In a new series of mixed media prints Hailey’s starting point is a group of his own paintings. These are photographed, digitized, manipulated, printed, and then worked with paint and pen.

The prints are not precursors to painted works, but separate, immediate, and fundamental lines of exploration on their own.

Hailey has always blurred the line between painting and drawing, with his strong emphasis on sensation and sensibilities, combining elements of gestural abstraction, drawing, and writing in a highly idiosyncratic and potent expression.

At once epic and intimate, his work is infused with words, names, and references to poetry, mythology, and history

Bill Hailey currently lives and works in Austin, Texas.