↳ Exhibitions

Bailey Scieszka at Freddy

August 25, 2017

Artist: Bailey Scieszka

Exhibition title: The Feather Mantle

Venue: Freddy, New York, US

Date: August 5 – 26, 2017

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Freddy

Freddy is pleased to present The Feather Mantle, a solo exhibition by Detroit-based artist Bailey Scieszka.

Bailey Scieszka considers clowns to be painted people. In her cross-media practice combining drawing, installation, writing, and performance, Scieszka incarnates Old Put, a shapeshifting demonic clown. Challenging the conventions of reality, Old Put embraces a responsibility common to clowns and artists: sweeping up viewers from the monotony of their daily lives. The Feather Mantle presents Old Put’s story of finding and keeping an angel’s wings so she cannot return to heaven. Inspired by the Noh drama of the same title, Old Put parodies this tale with Bratz dolls, ancient alien theories, and The Annunciation to create her own schizophrenic mythology.

Bailey Scieszka was born in 1989 in Royal Oak, Michigan. She lives and works in Detroit. She holds a BFA from the Cooper Union in New York City. She has recently shown with Maria Bernheim (Zürich), What Pipeline (Detroit), Bahamas Biennale (Detroit), Bed Stuy Love Affair (Brooklyn), and LOMEX (New York). Her puppet dramas have been performed at Paris Internationale and NADA New York. Her work has been featured in Novembre, Foundations, L’Officiel Art, Keen On, and Tages Anzeiger. Much of Scieszka’s work emerges from the mind of her alter-ego Old Put, a demonic, shapeshifting clown whose works across performance, video and drawing are layered with popular reference.