Artist Talk: Mark Bradford, Artist and Maker

Splash Image - Artist Talk: Mark Bradford, Artist and Maker
Mark Bradford, Amendment #8, 2014, Mixed media on canvas. © 2014 Mark Bradford
April 17, 2015

Mark Bradford's hand is visible in his celebrated multi-layered collage paintings. These often riff on themes and signs he finds in the urban environment. On Monday, April 20, at 6pm in American Art's McEvoy Auditorium, the artist will be discussing his Amendment series in the third annual James Dicke Contemporary Artist Lecture. The Amendment series looks at the Bill of Rights in a progression of collage works whose words become increasingly illegible. The words blend into the abstracted work, losing their intent and meaning, the way they sometimes do in real life.

"The line of my making or my art practice goes back to my childhood, but it's not an art background, it's a making background," artist Mark Bradford told PBS's Art 21. Born in Los Angeles in 1961, Bradford worked in his mother's hair salon, in charge of making the signs that he would embellish with his calligraphic hand. "The hand was very early in my work—signage, text—I've always been a maker."

If you can't make the talk, you can watch live or later via our webcast.

Categories

Recent Posts

Detail of quilted portrait showing three African American soldiers
05/24/2023
Tips for teaching the layered World War I history of the 369th Infantry Regiment on their return from France
A procession of women walking through the desert. The woman in front holds a radio on her shoulder.
05/19/2023
Exhibition invites viewers to discover the intersections and influences of video and sound, through works by some of today’s leading contemporary artists
An illustrated portrait of a woman with short brown hair. The background is red with a yellow pattern.
05/10/2023
Celebrating the renowned artist with a comic about her life and work