About the Artist

My current work focuses on large-scale paintings. I find satisfaction in the physicality of working at this scale, where I must move both myself and the painting, engaging my whole body in the creative process. Whether climbing a ladder to reach higher areas or shifting a piece from the wall to the floor, every movement is integral to the work. This full-body involvement infuses each piece with energy and immediacy, making painting as much a physical experience as an artistic one.

Mono no aware is the title of a recent painting and describes the essence of my work. "Mono no aware" (物の哀れ) is a Japanese idea that’s about feeling a kind of bittersweet appreciation for how everything in life is temporary. It’s the mix of beauty and sadness one has when realizing something amazing won’t last forever—like the last few cherry blossoms falling or a perfect sunset fading away. It comes from traditional Japanese aesthetics and Zen Buddhism, and it concerns being in tune with the transience of all things. "Mono no aware" is the quiet, emotional pull you feel when something beautiful is slipping away.

--Alexandra Bailliere

BIO

Bailliere holds an MFA in visual art from Mills College, a BA cum laude in French from Duke University with extensive coursework in visual art and art history, and a post-bac in visual art and design from UC Berkeley. While on a Duke junior year abroad in Paris, she studied art history at the Université de Paris and painting at the Académie de Port-Royal. Bailliere spent a high school semester at the Cleveland Institute of Art in Lacoste, France where she focused solely on drawing and painting. While in grade school, she attended Saturday high school drawing classes at the Maryland Institute College of Art in her hometown of Baltimore. Bailliere has been drawing and painting since the age of six, when she spent hours creating art at a small yellow table in her bedroom.

In addition to sustaining an active studio practice, Bailliere is an adjunct professor of art at Contra Costa College where she teaches drawing and painting.

Bailliere's work has been presented at the San Francisco Art Fair, the Mills College Art Museum, the Worth Ryder Gallery at UC Berkeley, the Berkeley Art Center, the Palo Alto Art Center and the Five Points Arts Gallery in Torrington, Connecticut, among other venues. Bailliere was a recipient of the Being Human residency at the Palo Alto Art Center in 2018, and in 2016, she was a finalist for a residency fellowship at the Headlands Center of the Arts. Her work is included in many private collections and the following corporate collections:

Brown Advisory
Chicken and Egg Pictures
Citizens Bank
Freshfields Law Offices of San Francisco
Green17 Design
among others.

Bailliere's work is represented by Hang Art in San Francisco. Please direct inquiries to info@hangart.com.

Portrait photo credit to Anne Sherwood.