![Joe Bradley — "I try to go into it with no idea. So theoretically anything could happen. Anything can happen! All of these [paintings] have work on both sides so a lot of the stuff you see is kind of like bleeding from the other side. It ends up being a competition. Usually one wins.”](https://rtwaymdozgnhgluydsys.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/artwork-images/auction-lots/NY010413-172013-lot1774363969119.jpg)
"I try to go into it with no idea. So theoretically anything could happen. Anything can happen! All of these [paintings] have work on both sides so a lot of the stuff you see is kind of like bleeding from the other side. It ends up being a competition. Usually one wins.”
Using gestural marks made with colored oil sticks, Bradley builds up raw, unmediated layers of pigment that bleed through from the canvas's reverse side, creating an unpredictable dialogue between intention and accident. The work embraces a philosophy of open possibility, where competing marks and colors wage a quiet battle for dominance on the surface. Housed in the artist's own handmade wood frame, the painting feels deliberately unpolished, resisting the formality of traditional presentation in favor of something more immediate and process-driven.
- Medium
- colored oil sticks on canvas, in artist's wood frame
- Spotted At
- Auction House · Phillips
🔨 Auction Lot
Contemporary Art Day Sale
May 17, 2013
Estimate: $100,000 – $150,000
Sold: $245,000
More by Joe Bradley
Untitled
Untitled
“I like to see what someone who doesn’t draw does draw when they draw. It’s always the same stuff...I’ve been paying attention to graffiti too, tags and that sort of thing. It’s funny. It’s just visual background noise until you start to engage with it, and then you just realize that it’s everywhere.” - Joe Bradley
2010
Spotted works by Joe Bradley
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