exhibitions & press
Exhibition History
2022
IMPRINT ATX, Group Exhibition Contracommon - Austin, TX
RE/FLEX IV, Group Exhibition ARTUS CO. - Austin, TX
Closed Circuit, Group Exhibition Contracommon - Austin, TX
Studies & Sketches, Group Exhibition Western Gallery - Virtual, TX & NM
2021
RE/FLEX III., Group Exhibition Contracommon - Austin, TX
EAST Austin Studio Tour Bolm Studios - Austin, TX
C/C x WILLOW, Group Exhibition Willow House - Austin, TX
found/forgotten, Solo Exhibition Contracommon - Austin, TX
Memory & Monotype, Solo Exhibition Austin Bouldering Project - Austin, TX
Terrain Imprinted / PrintAustin Contracommon & Virtual - Austin, TX
2020
A Brief Interruption, Group Exhibition Contracommon - Austin, TX
Austin Studio Tour Virtual - Austin, TX
RE/FLEX - Group Exhibition Contracommon - Austin, TX
2019
Tiny Art of Texas, Group Exhibition 218 Co-op Gallery - San Marcos, TX
Heatwave, Group Exhibition Contracommon - Austin, TX
PRIMER, Group Exhibition Contracommon - Austin, TX
EAST Austin Studio Tour Pump Project - Austin, TX
2018
Almost Real Things Showcase Almost Real Things - Austin, TX
WEST Austin Studio Tour Blue Genie Art Bazaar - Austin, TX
40th Annual Red Dot Sale Women and Their Work - Austin, TX
Casa De Artistas Grand Opening Santa Cruz Theater - Austin, TX
2017
Conception: Contemporary Art Show Oskar Blues Brewery - Austin, TX
10th Annual Art Hop Art Works - Georgetown, TX
Land: Unsettled, Solo Exhibition Southwestern University - Georgetown TX
2016 and earlier
Pop Up Winter Show - Dec. 2016 Curator Liz Mazurek - Georgetown, TX
Annual Student Exhibition - April 2015 Southwestern University - Georgetown TX
Annual Student Exhibition - April 2014 Southwestern University - Georgetown TX
“…And now for something completely different — if you’re a fan of new media, the interplay between art and architecture, and genre-bending experiences, you’ve gotta check out the latest show at Contracommon. Taylor Bailey’s installations have an air of intrigue and mystery, ghostly walls, frosty windows, and hidden doorways. The scenes feel almost dreamlike, like a videogame scene where you could hover through passageways, and jump up on a floating wall to get an energy power-up.
Many of the interior spaces we occupy feel closed off from the outside world, but these scenes somehow feel fluid and open to the beyond. The ceiling is tinged a pale blue-grey, muted light as if on an overcast day, and the floor is piled with rich soil, like it’s just been tilled for planting. There are slight tinges of blue in the background, like hidden aquifers, inviting you in to seek out the possibility of life — past and present.”
by Rachel Cecelia Schoening
From Contracommon….
found/forgotten - on view September 13 - October 15, 2021
Taylor Bailey is a visual artist working in Austin, Texas. She pursued a degree from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas where she majored in both Studio Art (Painting focus) and Art History. She is now the Executive Director of Contracommon, a nonprofit arts collective in Bee Cave, Texas, which strives to support emerging artists through community and collaboration. Her practice is largely based in drawing and printmaking techniques, and explores themes of memory, identity, psychogeography and place-making.
found/forgotten uses familiar elements of nature as a way to explore identity, place, and belonging. Featuring experimental installation work utilizing stone, rock, and dirt in combination with light and sound, the exhibition creates ethereal and unfamiliar scenes within the context of the gallery. This liminal space, introduced to viewers at the end of a winding path of suspended charcoal drawings, will engage visitors to experience the duality of both a novel unfamiliarity and nostalgic sense of belonging through the use of commonplace earthly materials and imagery of the landscapes of Far West Texas. From the artist:
“While I work in a combination of large and small-scale works, and across a variety of mediums, my work is directly centered in engagement with the raw and unfiltered landscape of Far West Texas. In my practice, I am interested in exploring the concept of place – place as beyond (but not without) a geographic location, but also as an incorporeal entity, a way of “being” in the world, and a way for people to find order and connection in life. This exploration of place also relates to concepts of psychogeography, identity, memory and nostalgia.”
From Voyage Austin…
“Daily Inspiration: Meet Taylor Bailey
Today we’d like to introduce you to Contracommon and it’s Executive Director, Taylor Bailey.
Q: Hi Taylor, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
A: Contracommon was founded in August 2018 by a multidisciplinary group of artists who believed in the power of collaboration and community, and who wished to create a new type of relationship between studio artists and gallery representation. It’s incredibly difficult to find a way into the Austin arts scene as an emerging artist; sometimes it feels like a game of who-you-know, so for many recent graduates or self-taught artists, it can be very daunting. The mission was simple: to build a space to empower emerging artists like ourselves….”
From Glasstire…
The following is part of Glasstire’s series of short videos, Five-Minute Tours, for which commercial galleries, museums, nonprofits and artist-run spaces across the state of Texas send us video walk-throughs of their current exhibitions. This will continue while the coronavirus situation hinders public access to exhibitions.
A Brief Interruption at Contracommon, Austin. Dates: November 7-22, 2020.
Artists: Forrest Aderholt, Chris Ancarrow, Brock Caron, Alex Coronel, Taylor Bailey, Kelsey Baker, Aria Brownell, Amar Gupta, Rachel Spits, Carrie Shannon, Kirsten Lofgren, Melanie Farris, Russell Brxwn, Jet, Molly Knobloch, and Iris Rylander. Via Contracommon: “A Brief Interruption is a multidisciplinary exhibition in conjunction with the Austin Studio Tour, hosting work by 16 Austin artists who have been impacted by the pandemic lockdown.”
From Southwestern University's Sarofim Gallery...
APRIL 4 – 9, 2017
The Art and Art History Department at Southwestern University presents three senior art exhibitions for the Bachelor of Arts degree by Taylor Bailey, Eamon Rogers, and William H. Soller in the Sarofim Gallery, East Rutersville Drive, Georgetown, Texas. All three artists explore both the internal and external landscape.
Taylor Bailey’s exhibition, Land: Unsettled, uses large-scale, monochromatic works on paper and canvas to explore the influences of nature and human architecture on framing the perception of landscape, questioning what constitutes the idea of landscape from a cultural and historical perspective. The dichotomy of organic form and structured geometry meet in a new dimension in her work, where a chaotic fight for dominance takes place between the natural and constructed environment.
The reception is on Thursday, April 6 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. with artists’ talks beginning at 5p.m. The event is free and open to the public.