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Washington’s Profile
2009

XIV.
In the foreground is a framing of trees which stands out in silhouette as George Washington's profile. The picture is signified on the map. Excavations brought to light scenes which are not unrelated to the present. There are poses. Other poses. A glossary through which the nature of convention reaches truth. Illustrating, one, the archaic smile and incorrect placing of the eye in profile; illustrating, two, the careful but angular and fluted treatment of garments; illustrating, too, the meticulous care of hair, a series of styles, pullbacks, flips, mini-bobs, ponies, pageboys and pigtails. Similarity is partial identity. Running fingers along the edges of objects set in a line create images not dissimilar to advertisements. Relics of invention lie concealed in certain forms, points of inflection or cusp. He empties the contents of his pockets. Recall Dr. H. More (1614-1687) in Antitodes (sic) Against Atheism,: "As for the many pretended intricacies in the instance ... of the efformation (sic) of wasps out of the carcass of a horse. This was not by chance."

Endnote XIV
WASHINGTON’S PROFILE, lost manuscript, n.d
© 2008 David Bailin

Washington’s Profile contained 100 endnotes that intimated but did not state out right the main narrative of the text [a American travelogue]. In fact, the work was an attempt to create a subject through correspondence, allusion and fragmentation. It is a form of creating art that I follow to this day, albeit for a different medium: a search for meaningful relationships between disparate images and text by excavating old newspapers, magazines and books. Having found myself with the opportunity to show my work in my hometown, I thought it fitting and appropriate to revisit that manuscript and develop an exhibition of drawings that reflects the intention of the original manuscript – art from reconstruction.

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On Interiors
2007
Recently, I have started to draw interiors. The same sense of dislocation is evident in this work. The characters, controlling’ their office environment by arranging, rearranging and discovering things, never seem to feel at ease. Ultimately, the character’s triumph remains not just in the resoluteness of the effort but also in the humor of his effort.

CONFESSIONS OF A CONFORMIST
March 3, 2007

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On Exteriors
2004
I grew up on the prairies of South Dakota. The land there does not start or end but expands across miles of rolling plains and under the vast expanse of sky. With the great absurdity of everyday life taking place within these extraordinary distances, the people have adjusted to the prairies. This is reflected in their humor – dry, deadpan, self-deprecating and their manner - stoic, flat, and fixed in the present. My work is similar. Drawn in charcoal on paper, the narratives have no beginning or end, just the great expanse of present in which the characters, silent and static, are suspended. The work is not about the particular scenes but the attempt to hold on to or find one’s place in a stark and inhospitable environment.

Cindy Momchilov interviews David Bailin
at Camera Work, Little Rock, October 16, 2008

Edited and produced by Doubletroublets Productions
© 2008 DoubleTroublets Productions

The DoubleTroublets interview Thirty Arkansas Artists
March - April 2011

Interviewees: David Bailin, Beverly Buys, Gary Cawood, Les Christensen, Warren Criswell, Brad Cushman, Hamid Ebrahimifar, Eric Leon Freeman, Neal Harrington, Robyn Horn, Holly Laws, Margaret LeJeune, Evan Lindquist, Matthew Lopas, Tonya McNair, William McNamara, Dusty Mitchell, Cindy Momchilov, Ray Ogar, Maxine Payne, Sammy Peters, Michael Peven, Robert Reep, Carey Roberson, John Salvest, Katherine Strause, David Warren, Michael Warrick, LaDawna Whiteside, Steven Wise

Edited and produced by Doubletroublets Productions
© 2012 DoubleTroublets Productions