Mark Bradford Dive Into Criticism

cm 259 x 365,8 x 5,4

The African American artist Mark Bradford has established himself in recent decades, in the United States and internationally, for large-scale abstract pictures executed with the collage technique. Questioning the Modernist canon of abstraction, Bradford incorporates elements and objects from everyday life into his canvasses. Uniting high and low culture, he transforms them into artworks expressive of contemporary social dynamics. The co-founder of Art + Practice, an art and educational foundation for the young in the neighborhood of Leimert Park in Los Angeles, in his work Bradford addresses political, social, and urban themes in the diverse cultural and geographic context of Los Angeles. "Dive Into Criticism" reflects the artist’s interest in psycho-geography and urban mapping systems. The work was constructed by layering different materials, including paper and billboard scraps found in the street, into a visual and imaginary fabric of the city viewed from above. Channeling together abstraction and reality, the work alludes to the possibility of overcoming cultural stereotypes through an “immersion in criticism,” as the title suggests.

Yes

C. Bedford (ed.), Mark Bradford, exhibition catalogue (various venues), New Haven-London 2010. C. Butler (ed.), Scorched Earth: Mark Bradford, exhibition catalogue (Los Angeles, Hammer Museum), New York 2015.

Foto M3Studio

Acquired thanks to a donation by Stephen Robert and Pilar Crespi Robert

Painting