Liz Bail is a visual artist based in Chicago, IL. She is currently an MFA candidate in Painting and Drawing at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and will graduate Spring 2025. Liz also earned her BFA Fall 2019 and her Post Baccalaureate Certificate Spring 2022 from SAIC. She obtained her BA in Studio Art and Business from Lake Forest College with Special Honors in Studio Art and graduated Cum Laude.
My paintings express the beauty I experience in nature primarily through the freedom of exploration. This exploration is based on intuition, chance and experimentation. Painting on raw canvas while on the floor helps free me to move intuitively through the painting as each gesture influences the next allowing me to arrive at an experience that feels genuine and fresh without fear or doubt. I try to balance control and free movement with my body to create a sense of calm. The scale of my paintings is large which encourages an immersive experience in which a viewer might feel free to enter and wonder. The material quality of my paintings appears to be unprocessed and untouched and has references to the natural world. The staining technique evokes both organic and atmospheric characteristics as the color becomes more saturated within the cloth. The saturation adds to the materiality of the painting as the staining is embedded within the surface of the painting. This embedded quality of the color accentuates its presence as well as its emotional attributes. As a result, the viewer is encouraged to interact with and physically experience the artwork. The subtle and intrinsic quality of the creases, folds and weight suggest that the painting is governed by its material presence.