As the show was being hung, the virus came. Assumptions collapse into a fog, inside an unfolding unknown. Who would have imagined the immediacy of a quote like Churchill’s “Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the hard may be; for without victory there is no survival ”?
Now it’s all about the space within the house, between homes, towns, states, and countries.

When I was painting these works from 2018 to 2020, New York, the whole country was bustling with energy and life. My works were about mayhem, argumentation, celebration, all together, having a common denominator of an American air, space and light.

First, as a painter, my job is to paint the most spectacular, engaging, relevant, even overwhelming works as possible. And using iconic stories from America’s          Ur-narrative could help to re-arrange the interaction between artist and viewer away from being exclusively subjective. I wanted the subject matter to serve as the boundary lines of a game played out on an open field. With the way I had developed my style and act of painting, especially the sharp edges between reduction, abundance, action and abstraction that I had achieved over my career, I could invite the widest possible participation by many diverse viewers to feel free to participate in the game, completing my paintings for themselves.

Thinking about my work in this stark moment, it’s clear that art is almost exclusively about the power of expression and, above all, beauty. I hope all my work powerfully expresses my sentiments in beautiful forms that can give pleasure to people.

John Bradford 2020

Mayflower November 11, 1620, 2019
acrylic, oil on canvas
48 x 60 in

Washington Returns to Mount Vernon, 2019
acrylic, oil on canvas
48 x 60 in

Plymouth Rock, 2019
acrylic, oil on canvas
48 x 72 in

About the artist

JOHN BRADFORD (b. 1949, Wilmington, Delaware) received his BFA from Cooper Union in 1971 and MFA from Yale University School of Art in 1979. He is the 2011 recipient of prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Painting. John Bradford’s work has been reviewed in the New York Times, ArtNews, Village Voice, the Jewish Press and Hudson Review.

JOHN BRADFORD

By Land and By Sea

by appointment only

(Originally Scheduled for February 27 – April 25, 2020)

Anna Zorina Gallery New York, NY

FRAMING SPECIFICATIONS

METRO FLOATING FRAME

Profile: 120 & Profile: 124
Type: floating frame for 1-1/2″ deep paintings & 2-1/4” deep paintings
Wood & Finish: unfinished maple
Purchasing Option: cut to size with wedges

Light is the main element in my paintings. I use layers of oil paint and resin, usually over linen, to create deeply luminous paintings of light and the way it falls on land and water. I want my work to breathe and to convey the beauty of our world, though I don’t paint an untouched landscape. I paint a world that includes the impact we have on our lands.

In the west our world is increasingly altered by wildfire smoke and I work to capture that: the strange filter that a blanket of smoke casts on the land that changes the way we see color, bonfires near dry trees, strangely vivid suns and moons, and smoke pouring off a distant forest. Fire moves fast. It’s changing the west in late summer and I’m painting those impacts.

My work is increasingly abstracted. I find I have less to say about specific places, and more to convey about the embrace of light on landscapes, whether I’m looking down at a reflection on a river or at a wide horizon line. I rarely paint onsite; I want distance from the experience so that I can engage my memory and my mind. My images often start with a photo, then are abstracted through rough sketches, then drawings, and finally, the painting.

Okanagan: Fire on the Horizon, 2020, Oil on Linen Panel, 26” x 42”

“Lhaq’te’mish: Morning Fog” on the Nooksack Delta, 2020,
Oil on Linen over Wood Panel, 30” x 20”

“Yakama: Autumn on the River”, Oil on Linen over Aluminum, 20” x 24”

LISA MCSHANE
March 6, 2020 – March 29, 2020
Smith and Vallee Art Gallery
Edison, WA

FRAMING SPECIFICATIONS

METRO FLOATING FRAME

Profile: 124 Profile: 121
Type: floating frame for 1-1/2″ deep paintings
Wood & Finish: ash various finishes
Purchasing Option: cut to size with wedges