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Mark Bradford β€” "I started working with paper right at the beginning and I just started adding different types of paper that I found in the world or that I printed myself. I realized I was building up this very dense map. Like the layers of the different cities of Rome that keep getting built on top of each other throughout history." Mark Bradford, 2012
Mark Bradford

"I started working with paper right at the beginning and I just started adding different types of paper that I found in the world or that I printed myself. I realized I was building up this very dense map. Like the layers of the different cities of Rome that keep getting built on top of each other throughout history." Mark Bradford, 2012

Mark Bradford's large-scale work constructs a richly layered topography from scorched permanent wave end papers and blonde hair dye, materials sourced from the beauty salon culture of his South Los Angeles upbringing. The accumulated and burned papers create a dense, cartographic surface that evokes the geological strata of urban landscapes, where histories accumulate and are simultaneously obscured. Like an archaeologist of the everyday, Bradford transforms the discarded remnants of Black beauty culture into an abstract meditation on place, memory, and the sedimentary nature of city life.

Medium
scorched permanent wave end papers, blonde hair dye on paper laid down on canvas

πŸ”¨ Auction Lot

Contemporary Art Day Sale

May 15, 2015

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About this work

Mark Bradford, "I started working with paper right at the beginning and I just started adding different types of paper that I found in the world or that I printed myself. I realized I was building up this very dense map. Like the layers of the different cities of Rome that keep getting built on top of each other throughout history." Mark Bradford, 2012

Mark Bradford's large-scale work constructs a richly layered topography from scorched permanent wave end papers and blonde hair dye, materials sourced from the beauty salon culture of his South Los Angeles upbringing. The accumulated and burned papers create a dense, cartographic surface that evokes the geological strata of urban landscapes, where histories accumulate and are simultaneously obscured. Like an archaeologist of the everyday, Bradford transforms the discarded remnants of Black beauty culture into an abstract meditation on place, memory, and the sedimentary nature of city life.

Medium
scorched permanent wave end papers, blonde hair dye on paper laid down on canvas
Seen at
Phillips, New York, London, Hong Kong

Related themes

Abstract Art, Prominent Artist, Textural Layered Work, Large Scale Format, Contemporary American Artist, Warm Earth Tones, Earth Tones And Amber, Layered Composition, Male Artist, Mixed Media, Mixed Media Collage, Urban Cartography Theme, Collage, American Artist, Acclaimed Modern Master, Textural Surface, Process Art, Process-Driven Art, Burnt And Scorched Aesthetic, Textural Layering, Urban Themes, Contemporary Art, Found Materials Art, Established Artist, Earth Tones, Urban Mapping

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