Joe Bradley

I watched an interview with Joe Bradley at David Zwirner. Bradley wasn’t an artist I’d followed before. Zwirner is a top-tier gallery with a large collector base, so Bradley is operating on a significant stage. I spent some time trying to understand why.

I like that Bradley said he was in conversation with Calder and Picasso as an artist. I also 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.

I probably need to spend more time with it, ideally in person, to understand what problems Bradley is actually trying to solve.

okay… after my first take, I came across this video of Bradley in his studio. That is a damn cool short film. I have listened to a couple of other interviews and appreciate him a bit more.

Sargent Landscape Studies

Klimt - Island in the Attersee