Joe Bradley
Joe Bradley ‘Vanguard’ 2018
This is a work by Bradley that I like a lot. The colors and iconic shapes are killing it here.
I’m trying to understand the recent wave of abstract expressionism better. What I appreciate most is that these works often feel like an artist living with a painting and making adjustments over time until it resolves into its final form. Some pieces in this movement resonate strongly with me. Overall, the movement has grown more mature compared with its early days, when artists such as Frankenthaler and Pollock practiced a more stream-of-consciousness form of expressionism.
Joe Bradley at David Zwirner wasn’t an artist I’d fully followed before. Zwirner is a top-tier gallery with a large collector base, and Bradley is operating on a significant stage. I spent some time trying to understand why. I liked how in the interview he said “The sitting to painting ratio is appalling” by which he means he spends a lot of time contemplating and being with the work.
My question is: is this good art? Is there anything new here, and can I learn anything from it?
Right now the work feels foreign to me. When I look at images of Bradley’s paintings, I see large blocks of primary (or near primary) color layered into compositions that can hold a room. I can imagine the mood of a single canvas changing the atmosphere of a space. Part of what I’m responding to is close to what I’d call “environmental” effect work that functions almost like design in how it establishes a sense of place, but with painting’s physicality and ambiguity.
Joe Bradley ‘Moksha’ 2021
There are some old videos and shows of Bradley online that I personally am not a big fan of. You cant early work against anybody… but why I’m calling out the earlier pieces of his above, is they kind of directly relate to his current best work. When I think Bradley does a great job, I think his paintings relate easily to icons. These early drawings and paintings were very icon oriented.