sign in sign up
<<
Home , Mark Bradford

WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 1 MARK BRADFORD PALM

“The most impor MATRIX 172 the art supply st

—MARK BRADFOR

A Home Depot sh was scheduled to for the site-spec

• Acrylic m • Matte bla • Tubes of •Lengths o

Bradford also sen

The exhibition co Wadsworth Athen drawings on view Contemporary Ar Mark Bradford Pr the Chicago com many previous w peeling away lay of colors was rev wall drawing add

Once again inspir MATRIX artist, an a site-specific wa technique. Along assistants rolled parallel lines, and then proceeded t process to creat JUNE 4 – SEPTEMBER 6, 2015 WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MUSEUM OF ART COVER: MARK BRADFORD, ST WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MA 2015. PHOTO: JOSHUA WHITE WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 2 ORD PALM TREES AND PAVEMENT

“The most important imperative to be questioned is the one that tells you to go to views his installa 72 the art supply store to be a painter.” 1 metaphor for for (2015 marks the —MARK BRADFORD exhibitions for w the inaugural MA

Bradford’s wall d A Home Depot shopping list landed in my inbox about two months before this exhibition specifically for h was scheduled to open. It contained the materials artist Mark Bradford would require developed by the for the site-specific wall drawing he planned for his MATRIX project: stud Bradford’s wall d • Acrylic matte varnish created from col • Matte black paint Titled Pile of Bloc • Tubes of clear caulk Bradford was cur • Lengths of multicolored rope

Bradford also sent boxes of colored paper from his studio.

The exhibition concept had developed very quickly. During Bradford’s site visit to the Wadsworth Atheneum in June of 2014, he was attracted to the four Sol LeWitt wall drawings on view at the Museum. He recalled a project he had done at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago in 2011, in which he uncovered a LeWitt wall drawing. The Mark Bradford Project, a year-long audience participation residency that engaged the Chicago community, included Pinocchio Is On Fire, a work created on the site of many previous wall drawings, including one by LeWitt that had been painted over. By peeling away layers of subsequent white paint, in the form of letters, LeWitt’s palette of colors was revealed and became integral to Bradford’s newly created, text-based wall drawing addressing the subject of identity.

Once again inspired by Sol LeWitt Hartford native, Conceptual artist, three-time MATRIX artist, and founder of the ―“wall drawing” art form Bradford proposed a site-specific wall drawing of his own, but employing his signature― materials and technique. Along the sixty-foot wall in MATRIX’s Bunce Gallery, Bradford and two assistants rolled out a field of black paint, adhered long lengths of rope in horizontal parallel lines, and applied dense layers of vibrantly colored paper, which the artist then proceeded to sand, peel, strip, and cut away from the wall in a subtractive process to create a vivid and textured composition. Akin to an excavation, Bradford

2015 INSTALLATION PROCESS, PIN IN THE EXHIBITION MARK BRA MCA CHICAGO, 28 MAY 18 M OF ART PHOTO: NATHAN KEAY ©‒ MCA COVER: MARK BRADFORD, STUDIO TEST FOR WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MATRIX EXHIBITION (DETAIL), 2015. PHOTO: JOSHUA WHITE WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 3 MENT

lls you to go to views his installation a physical process “more about labor than theater”2 as a and the latter, W metaphor for forty years― (or layers) of MATRIX history at the Wadsworth Atheneum.― suggest Bradford (2015 marks the fortieth anniversary of the MATRIX series of Contemporary art urban, and how t exhibitions for which Bradford has designed a limited-edition poster. LeWitt designed nature but also u the inaugural MATRIX poster in 1975.) to a developed ci “seem to point to Bradford’s wall drawing Pull Painting 1 accompanies two created mixed messages re this exhibition specifically for his MATRIX― exhibition. These― “pull paintings” feature a new technique color palettes, th d would require developed by the artist through the process of testing MATRIX wall drawings in his “bifurcation”9 tha Los Angeles studio.3 In a nod to the rigid structure of early Sol LeWitt wall drawings,4 two canvases rev Bradford’s wall drawing and paintings share similar horizontal, parallel lines but images collage created from colored ropes, which have been sanded or stripped from the surfaces. This union― of abs Titled Pile of Blocks (2015) and Wet Grass (2015), the former comes from the book Bradford was currently reading, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (1998),5 Mark Bradford gr upended his neig King verdict) res beyond. In the af

site visit to the LeWitt wall the Museum of ll drawing. The at engaged on the site of ainted over. By LeWitt’s palette d, text-based

, three-time proposed

terials and SOL LEWITT, WALL DRAWING d and two AND TWIRLS,” 2004. INK AND THE ELLA GALLUP SUMER AND e in horizontal SUMNER COLLECTION FUND, ch the artist PHOTO: ALLEN PHILLIPS btractive ion, Bradford

INSTALLATION PROCESS, PINOCCHIO IS ON FIRE, IN THE EXHIBITION MARK BRADFORD AT THE MCA CHICAGO, 28 MAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2011. PHOTO: NATHAN KEAY ©‒ MCA CHICAGO WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 4

MARK BRADFORD, STUDIO TE PAINTING FOR WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MATRIX EXHIBITIO 2015. PHOTO: JOSHUA WHITE

ater”2 as a and the latter, Wet Grass, is a phrase Bradford has always liked.6 Together, the titles th Atheneum.― suggest Bradford’s stated interest in “the junctions demarcating the natural and the orary art urban, and how these converge and overlap. I like the idea of fissure, not just from eWitt designed nature but also urban channels.”7 (Gotham chronicles New York from a natural Eden to a developed city.) A voracious reader, Bradford often quotes texts for titles that “seem to point to some strange, psychological space….[are] soft and biting,…[or give] s created mixed messages.”8 Although similar compositions of the same size, just with different new technique color palettes, the contrasting titles of Pile of Blocks and Wet Grass illustrate the awings in his “bifurcation”9 that carries through his body of work.10 Here, close inspection of the wall drawings,4 two canvases reveals that the surface abstraction gives way to underlying texts and lines but images collaged sheets of discarded billboard paper of local street advertisements. the surfaces. This union― of abstract form and social engagement exemplifies Bradford’s art. om the book 1898 (1998),5 Mark Bradford grew up in South Central Los Angeles where in 1965 the Watts riots upended his neighborhood and in 1992 the Los Angeles― riots (ignited by the Rodney King verdict) resulted in mass arson, looting, assault, and murder in the same area and beyond. In the aftermath of the King riots, cyclone fencing was installed around the

SOL LEWITT, WALL DRAWING #1131 “WHIRLS AND TWIRLS,” 2004. INK AND PAINT ON WALLS. THE ELLA GALLUP SUMER AND MARY CATLIN SUMNER COLLECTION FUND, 2004.12.1. PHOTO: ALLEN PHILLIPS WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 5

MARK BRADFORD, STUDIO TEST PAINTING FOR WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MATRIX EXHIBITION, 2015. PHOTO: JOSHUA WHITE

her, the titles atural and the ot just from natural Eden or titles that biting,…[or give] t with different ustrate the ection of the ying texts and advertisements. rd’s art.

he Watts riots y the Rodney e same area and ed around the WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 6

MARK BRADFORD, STUDIO TEST PAINTING FOR WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MATRIX EXHIBITION (DETAIL), 2015. PHOTO: JOSHUA WHITE WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 7

MARK BRADFORD, PILE OF BLOCKS, MARK BRADFORD, WET GRAS 2015. PHOTO: JOSHUA WHITE 2015. PHOTO: JOSHUA WHITE

destruction and eventually merchant posters began to appear as the initial signs Bradford explains of an economic renewal.11 Such everyday realities of the local community and streets of South urban landscape inform his racially and politically charged work. Known for tactile, signage-based and map-like collage paintings, Bradford’s trademark monumental, “As politically int mixed-media abstractions layer string and advertising posters stripped from the city wanted to be an streets infamous for gang violence. The artist maintains his studio here in the same face. The interne Leimert Park neighborhood where he lived until the age of eleven. understand black language, the soc In some of Bradford’s best-known work, posters from local merchants their texts that for me, I cou traced and raised with string are layered with paper and largely painted― over. of my work come When sanded through by the ―artist, glimpses of the sign texts betray the area’s through the trace problematic social and economic issues. Tacked to telephone poles and plywood lived in this place construction-site fences, advertisements for bail bonds businesses, money-cashing lived, looking dow stores, and paternity- and disease-testing clinics target and prey upon the local people in need of these services. These social and political interests intrinsic to Bradford’s Bradford calls him “post-black”12 work are symbolically represented, veiled in abstraction. repurposing merc WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 8

MARK BRADFORD, WET GRASS, MARK BRADFORD, BREAD AND 2015. PHOTO: JOSHUA WHITE 2007. MIXED MEDIA AND COL CANVAS; 134 ½ X 253 ½ IN.

nitial signs Bradford explains his position as an African American artist from the sun-blistered MARK BRADFORD, UNTITLED, ity and streets of South Central breaking into the art world in the 1990s: MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER; 12 ½ n for tactile, onumental, “As politically intense as the ’50s were, I felt that when I came on the scene and d from the city wanted to be an artist, it was just as intense and the imagery was right in your e in the same face. The internet had made everyone so accessible; everyone could go online and understand black culture through hip-hop. This included the imagery, the clothes, the language, the social norms and communication. It became so product-laden, so static, core of his comm their texts that for me, I couldn’t breathe. And so I realized I would have to abstract it. I think all abstraction, call nted― over. of my work comes out of the body and the disappearance, traces and hints of the body, subtly delivered, he area’s through the traces of the materials that were there. The memory of the body people timeless work of d plywood lived in this place, the erosions of cities and spaces, topographies of where people― version of a wall oney-cashing lived, looking down on communities.”13 from a local hard the local people to Bradford’s Bradford calls himself a “paper-chaser,” and the term is apt, for his practice of PATRICIA HICKSO . repurposing merchant signs, tattered posters, and battered billboards is at the very Emily Hall Tremaine C WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 9

MARK BRADFORD, BREAD AND CIRCUSES, 2007. MIXED MEDIA AND COLLAGE ON CANVAS; 134 ½ X 253 ½ IN. MA

EDUCATION

1995 BFA, Californ Valencia, CA

SELECTED SOLO

2015 Wadsworth A Mark Bradfor Hammer Mus Los Angeles, Gemeentemu Mark Bradfor Netherlands The Rockbun , Ch 2014 The Rose Art Mark Bradfor Waltham, MA The Tom Brad Los Angeles Los Angeles 2012 San Francisc Mark Bradfor 2011 MCA Chicago Dallas Museu Dallas, TX

un-blistered MARK BRADFORD, UNTITLED, 2006. MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER; 12 ½ X 22 ¼ IN.

scene and t in your MARK BRADFORD, UNTITLED, 2007. o online and MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER; 19 X 22 IN. he clothes, the aden, so static, core of his commentary, locally sourced but universally relevant. Call it social ct it. I think all abstraction, call it political critique, these beautiful and issue-laden paintings are ints of the body, subtly delivered, in a form both original and of their time. Yet, in response to the e body people timeless work of Sol LeWitt, Mark Bradford hits the target in a colorful, high-relief where people― version of a wall drawing entirely his own, rendered in everyday materials purchased from a local hardware store.

actice of PATRICIA HICKSON is at the very Emily Hall Tremaine Curator of Contemporary Art WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 10

Born in Los Angeles, MARK BRADFORD Lives and works in Lo

EDUCATION SELECTED GROU

1995 BFA, California Institute of the Arts, 1997 MFA, California Institute of the Arts, 2015 Whitney Mus Valencia, CA Valencia, CA Is Hard to Se Sharjah Art F SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS The past, the Sharjah, UAE 2015 Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 2010 Studio Museum Harlem, Alphabet, 2013 Wexner Cent Mark Bradford / MATRIX 172, Hartford, CT New York, NY Smoke, Colum , Scorched Earth, Wexner Center for the Arts, Mark Bradford, Whitney Mus Los Angeles, CA Columbus, OH Smoke, New Gemeentemuseum den Haag, Institute of Contemporary Art, 2012 9th Gwangju Mark Bradford: Sea Monsters, The Hague, Mark Bradford, Boston, MA Gwangju, Sou Netherlands Aspen Art Museum, Merchant Posters, Museum of C The Rockbund Art Museum, Tears of a Tree, Aspen, CO Factory, Los Shanghai, China 2008 San Antonio, ArtPace, San Antonio, TX Museum of C 2014 The , , Cincinnati Art Museum, Maps and Smoke, Los A Mark Bradford: Sea Monsters, Manifests: New Work by Mark Bradford, 2011 12th Interna Waltham, MA Cincinnati, OH Untitled, Ista The Tom Bradley International Terminal at 2007 Whitney Museum of American Art, 2010 6th Internati Los Angeles Airport, Bell Tower, Neither New nor Correct: New Work by Media City S Los Angeles, CA (Special Commission) Mark Bradford, New York, NY Wexner Cent 2012 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 2006 LAXART, Niagara, Los Angeles, CA Columbus, OH Mark Bradford, San Francisco, CA 2003 Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria, 2011 MCA Chicago, Mark Bradford, Chicago, IL Very Powerful Lords, New York, NY AWARDS Dallas Museum of Art, Mark Bradford, 2000 The Luggage Store, Color Theory Negroes Dallas, TX Have Been Burning since the Plantation— , 2014 US Departme San Francisco, CA Washington, 1998 Walter McLean Gallery, Floss, 2013 National Aca San Francisco, CA 2009 MacArthur Fe Wexner Cent Columbus, OH

WORKS IN THE E

All works courtesy th

t social Pull Painting 1, 2015 Paint, paper, rope, se aintings are Dimensions variable nse to the Pile of Blocks, 2015 , high-relief Mixed media on canv als purchased 72 x 84 in.

Wet Grass, 2015 Mixed media on canv 72 x 84 in.

WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 11

Born in Los Angeles, California, 1961 ORD Lives and works in Los Angeles, California

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS ARTIST TALKS

e of the Arts, 2015 Whitney Museum of American Art, America 2008 The New Museum, Collage: The MATRIX Gallery Talks Is Hard to See, New York, NY Unmonumental Picture, New York, NY Mark Bradford Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah Biennial 12: 55th , Carnegie Thursday, June 4 The past, the present, the possible, Museum of Art, Life on Mars, 6 pm and 7 pm Sharjah, UAE Pittsburgh, PA , Alphabet, 2013 Wexner Center for the Arts, Blues for New Orleans, Prospect 1., New Orleans, LA Mark Bradford will discu Smoke, Columbus, OH 2006 Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, 27th Bienal Eleanor H. Bunce Gallery Arts, Mark Bradford, Whitney Museum of American Art, Blues for de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil Smoke, New York, NY Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney ary Art, 2012 9th Gwangju Biennale, ROUNDTABLE, Biennial 2006: Day for Night, New York, NY MA Gwangju, South Korea 2004 Orange County Museum of Art, 2004 rchant Posters, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Painting California Biennial, Newport Beach, CA Factory, Los Angeles, CA REDCAT/Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts San Antonio, TX Museum of Contemporary Art, Blues for Theater, Bounce: Mark Bradford and Maps and Smoke, Los Angeles, CA , Los Angeles, CA y Mark Bradford, 2011 12th International , 2001 The , Freestyle, Untitled, Istanbul, Turkey New York, NY merican Art, 2010 6th International Biennale of Seoul, ct: New Work by Media City Seoul, Seoul, South Korea rk, NY Wexner Center for the Arts, Hand Targets, ngeles, CA Columbus, OH merican Art at Altria, ew York, NY AWARDS or Theory Negroes ce the Plantation— , 2014 US Department of State's Medal of Arts, 2006 Bucksbaum Award, Whitney Museum of Washington, DC American Art, New York, NY Floss, 2013 National Academician, New York, NY USA Fellowship Award 2009 MacArthur Fellowship Award, Chicago, IL 2003 Louis Comfort Tiffany Award Wexner Center Residency Award, 2002 Foundation Columbus, OH Foundation

WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION

All works courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Pull Painting 1, 2015 1 Mark Bradford in conversati Paint, paper, rope, sealant, and varnish on wall Haven and London, and Colu Dimensions variable 2 Mark Bradford, telephone co 3 Ibid. Pile of Blocks, 2015 4 Email correspondence to the 5 Edward G. Burrows and Mike Mixed media on canvas 6 Email correspondence to the 72 x 84 in. 7 Mark Bradford in Susan May London: White Cube, 2013; p Wet Grass, 2015 8 Mark Bradford in Susan May 9 Ibid. Mixed media on canvas 10 Ibid. 72 x 84 in. 11 Email correspondence to the 12 Curator coine 2001. The term raised some best defines “post-black” ar See Holland Cotter, “Trackin 13 Mark Bradford in Susan May WA MATRIX 172 Brochure-4_WA MATRIX 172 Brochure 6/3/15 3:48 PM Page 12

ARTIST TALKS

age: The MATRIX Gallery Talks New York, NY Mark Bradford ional, Carnegie Thursday, June 4 600 Main Street Mars, 6 pm and 7 pm Hartford, Connecticut 06103 (860) 278-2670 1., New Orleans, LA Mark Bradford will discuss his MATRIX project in the o Paulo, 27th Bienal Eleanor H. Bunce Gallery. www.thewadsworth.org o, Brazil merican Art, Whitney ALL MARK BRADFORD IMAGES ARE COURTESY THE ARTIST Night, New York, NY AND HAUSER & WIRTH. © MARK BRADFORD m of Art, 2004 wport Beach, CA Disney/CalArts The MATRIX program is generously supported in part by Bradford and Jeffrey G. Marsted and Marcia Reid Marsted, as well as es, CA the current and founding members of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art’s Contemporary Coalition. Harlem, Freestyle, Additional support was provided by Hauser & Wirth.

Support for the Wadsworth Atheneum is provided in part by the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign and the Department of Economic and Community Development, which also receives support from the

National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

tney Museum of , NY

Award on on

1 Mark Bradford in conversation with Christopher Bedford, 25 June 2009, quoted in Christopher Bedford, “Against Abstraction,” Mark Bradford. New Haven and London, and Columbus, Ohio: Yale University Press and Wexner Center for the Arts, 2010; p. 19. 2 Mark Bradford, telephone conversation with the author, 31 March 2015. 3 Ibid. 4 Email correspondence to the author from Tate Dougherty of Hauser & Wirth, forwarding information from the artist, 14 May 2015. 5 Edward G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1998. 6 Email correspondence to the author from Tate Dougherty of Hauser & Wirth, forwarding information from the artist, 9 May 2015. 7 Mark Bradford in Susan May, “’Call and Response’ A Conversation with Mark Bradford” in Mark Bradford: Through Darkest America by Truck and Tank. London: White Cube, 2013; p. 75. 8 Mark Bradford in Susan May, p. 79. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 Email correspondence to the author from Tate Dougherty of Hauser & Wirth, forwarding information from the artist, 19 May 2015. 12 Curator Thelma Golden coined the term “post-black” to describe Mark Bradford’s work in the exhibition Freestyle at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2001. The term raised some controversy in the African American art community regarding Golden’s intended meaning. Art critic Holland Cotter perhaps best defines “post-black” art as: “art that can choose to refer to racial identity or to class, or gender, or aestheticism, or daily life or choose not to.” See Holland Cotter, “Tracking Racial Identity, But Not Defined By It,” The New York— Times, 23 December 2010. — 13 Mark Bradford in Susan May, p. 84.