Model ship and black glitter, 2010. Appoximately 813x991x152 mm; 32x39x6 inches.
Provenance: acquired directly from the artist; private collection.
This mixed media assemblage is a striking example of one of Radcliffe Bailey's signature works--his black model ships. Bailey's art has always incorporated an imaginative layering of collage and cultural imagery with various media. But, according to High Museum curator Michael Rooks in Radcliffe Bailey: Memory as Metaphor, these black ships tend to defy description: "Sailing ships are slave ships, ghost ships, or both....black glitter is evocative of cosmic infinity but also suggests the confluence of "bling" in hip hop and the sparkle of Warhol's Pop diamond dust paintings." With such enigmatic works as Black Redemption and Tricky, these elegant model ships conflate objects of desire with symbols of a dark history. Bailey also uses glitter to further signify the otherness of the Middle Passage, giving the shrouded vessel an unwordly finish. Thompson p. 123.
