works by Bailey Romaine

On view January 20 - February 23

Grounded in an understanding of making as searching, Bailey Romaine's works are poetic explorations of the margins of space, language, and longing. By closely reading the grammar of the built environment, she seeks out moments of rupture: the way layers of paint on a wall overlap and bleed onto the hinges of a door, the pattern freshly tuck-pointed bricks make against their weathered counterparts, precarious supports at a construction site, ad hoc home repairs and quick fixes, props, supports, patches. These moments serve as jumping off points for her material improvisations, which unfold, expand, and unravel, until finally crystalizing. The resulting sculptures, drawings, and texts exist in a generative liminal state, caught between the longing for a nameable identity and the desire to continue moving towards new, as yet unthought forms.

Bailey Romaine is a Maine based artist, writer, reader, and rambler. She holds an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her works negotiate between the haptic, material world in which we live and the liminal spaces of what is expressible. Her sculptures, drawings, and poetry emerge out of notational investigations of places and texts. She has shown her work throughout Chicago and beyond, including at the Chicago Artists Coalition, the Hyde Park Art Center, and Gallery 400. She recently completed a residency at the Institut für alles Mögliche in Berlin, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Growlery in San Francisco. 

For inquiries and sales, please contact

Hilary Nelson, Gallery Curator at TIMESCLUBGALLERY@PRAIRIELIGHTS.COM

Please join us for a reception with the artist on Sunday, February 23 in the cafe from 4pm - 6pm.