In his work, Lawrence explores the fragile intersection of humanity and nature. He weaves together diverse artistic influences such as the 19th-century Arts & Crafts movement, Romanticism, Pop Art, and the rich visual language of fantasy and sci-fi illustration, along his interest in contemporary outdoor adventure sports, doomsday cults, 1980s post-apocalyptic movies, and historical periods of societal change and upheaval. 

Lawrence crafts images of figures in rough textile embroidery who appear suspended between worlds. Their blank expressions  and vulnerable stances evoke a sense of uncertainty within the landscape. These figures are both part of the wilderness and at odds with it. They exist in a kind of liminal space between order and chaos, between the domestic and the wild, embodying themes of disconnection, transformation, and the tenuous balance between belonging and estrangement in a seemingly fractured world.

“The raw textures and imperfections of my textiles echo the fraying edges of social order, which are there to bind us, yet often feel like they’re unraveling—leaving us exposed, vulnerable, and isolated. Yet in my work, I also like to hint at new beginnings, rejuvenation, and idyllic happy states of being where people are one with their surroundings. This very rawness of my work—these same frayed edges, uneven stitching, and layers of fabric—can also mirror the raw, untamed, and unpredictable beauty of nature, where our human experience resides.”

With his work Lawrence invites contemplation of our place as humans in the natural world and within our own self-imposed social conventions. It becomes an invitation to question how we see ourselves within the order that surrounds us and the landscapes we inhabit. “It’s a plea for us to embrace the diverse, the weird, the unknown, and the elusive, along with everything else that binds us to nature and to each other.”

• Recent exhibitions at Galerie Bart: Art on Paper Brussels 2024 • Rambling in Arcadia 2023 • Big Art No.5 2020 • The Unofficial Bastard Countryside Tour 2020 • Drawing Room Madrid 2020 • Around the Corner 2019.

Born in 1976 in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, Lawrence James Bailey currently works and lives in Amsterdam. Lawrence graduated with a BFA from the Hull School of Art in 1998. He was then accepted for a two-year residency at De Ateliers in Amsterdam, which he successfully completed in 2001.

Lawrence has been exhibiting in solo and group exhibitions all over the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Spain and Latvia since 1995. These include for instance the ‘Rijswijk Textiel Biennale’ in Museum Rijswijk in 2019, ‘Brownsfield Research Centre’ at AirSpace Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent in 2018 and ‘Survival Kit 6 / Utopian City in the Latvian Centre’ For Contemporary Art, Riga in 2014. Lawrence and Galerie Bart have been working together since 2017, resulting in solo, duo and group exhibitions and fair participations, such as Drawing Room Madrid.

In 2020 Lawrence was artist in residence at AIR Guiniguada in Gran Canaria. In 2016 he won the Wonderlust photo contest organised by De Hallen in Haarlem and in 20o2 he received a stipend from the BKVB Fund. His work can be found in the collections of the Amsterdam Museum, Europol, Huize Frankendael, the Amsterdam Graphic Atelier, CBK Amsterdam, Deiska, Hotel WOW and De Ateliers. In addition, Lawrence has been involved in the creation of multiple magazines and theatre productions.

• view complete cv as pdf.

2020 •
27.02 Descubrir el Arte Drawing Room: dibujo contemporáneo.
24.02 AD Architectural Digest Un resumen de lo que veremos en DRAWING ROOM 2020.
16.02 Kooness Magazine The increasing attention of the art market on drawing.

2019 •
21.08 Quiltersgilde Bezoek aan de Textiel Biënnale in Museum Rijswijk by Ytsje Tilma.
04.07 The Liminal Residency The Loop: a journey around Amsterdam’s edgelands, editorial.
18.06 Textiel Biënale Rijswijk Lawrence James Bailey – Cross-overs by Frank van der Ploeg.
24.05 Textiel Plus Lawrence James Bailey over zijn textiele werk ‘No Man’s Land’ by Dorothé Swinkels.

2015 •
19.01 Failed Architecture Amsterdam’s Former Totems of Dissent by Lawrence James Bailey.