The aesthetic identity of Mark Bradford’s latest series of paintings and photographs is closely tied to the ideological framework within which he participates as a beauty operator in South Los Angeles. A close inspection of his textile pieces reveals that both the clothing and canvases gain their variegated texture from cellophane hair-color and burnt endpapers commonly used in the construction of permanent waves.
The incandescent hue and shimmering luminosity of these canvases echo the works of Agnes Martin or Ellen Gallagher.
While Bradford is not the first artist to deal with issues of identity, he seems to privilege us with a look into a segment of contemporary black culture, wherein the viewer is continually reminded that this view comes from a perspective grounded in myth and identity construction. In this way, Bradford manages to negotiate the space between high and low art, interrupting our conceptions and perceptions about the relationships between class, culture, and identity.


Selected solo exhibitions: 2003: Whitney Museum, New York; 2002: Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, USA; Patricia Faure, Santa Monica; 2001: Lombard-Freid, New York; 2000: Luggage Store, San Francisco.
Selected group exhibitions: 2002: Mirror Image, UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Pertaining to Painting, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; 2001: Painting As Paradox, Artists Space; 2001: Freestyle, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Snapshots: New Art from Los Angeles, UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Capital Art, Track 16, Santa Monica; 2000: The Art Museum, Princeton; Fresh Cut Afros, Watts Towers, Los Angeles; Black Male, Reginald Ingraham, Los Angeles; 1999: A Place Called Lovely, Greene Naftali, New York; International Biennial 1999, Florence.