Body of Work

Painter Eric Bailey brushes up on the female form.
Richard 'Treats' Dryden

There's no better muse than a fine woman. "People have been painting the female figure since the Renaissance, and before that, even," explains 26-year-old artist Eric Bailey. "I think it's just in our instinct to portray that with a more modern twist now, with different elements and accessories, like gold chains, stilettos, and makeup." Having recently moved from his native San Francisco to Los Angeles, the young painter has no shortage of bronzed beauties to glam up (his girlfriend included).

While Bailey counts women, graffiti, skateboarding, and fashion as inspirations for his art, he owes his brushstrokes to five years at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. There, he developed a classical style that he calls "semi-impressionistic figurative oil painting." Initially, Bailey considered himself a graphic artist, but required painting courses forced him to learn the technique, and it has paid off.The fine art has led to several cool commercial projects in 2006 (check birdsandbullets.com to see the full scope of his work). Thus far, Bailey has designed a Converse All Star, painted a billboard of former high school basketball stars for the Jordan All-American Classic, and collaboratively designed five snow-boards for Burton's UnInc series. "It was one of the best projects I've ever worked on," he says of the latter art experiment. The others would be sexy portraits of wifey, no doubt. Home » ENTERTAINMENT » PORTFOLIO » Eric Bailey