Hall 6 (left) [23-25]

Entering the hall on the left, you will find three colorful, luminous paintings continuing the motif of swimmers, both in community and alone, alongside other scenes of leisure. The works gathered in this hall bear witness to a sincere processualism revealing Bradford’s empathy, directness and hermeneutic understanding. These qualities allow Bradford to think beyond the currently dominant binary thinking dividing into black and white, good and evil, friend and foe. In contrast, Bradford dissolves these dualistic structures of the world into dreamlike realms, which she developed out of perceptions.
But how does Bradford achieve the striking luminosity of her paintings? Her own personal interpretations of Color Field Painting enable her to directly juxtapose complementary colors such as orange and blue, and her switch from oil to acrylic in the early 2000s allowed her to concentrate even more on the properties of the pigment itself, producing works in a fast, dense manner. Acrylic is easier to apply than oil paint, as acrylic dries within a few moments. As a consequence, Bradford was able to quickly transfer vibrant, unmixed colors and shapes directly to the canvas following intuitions without obstacles. Color is always the entry point of Bradford’s work; she begins by experimenting with color even before she creates forms and figures. Some of her works appear as if layers of paint have been repeatedly superimposed, or pigments of a bright color cover a darker background like hatchings or shadings.
The spontaneity reflected in her style’s and motifs’ variability proves the transfer of direct inner experience to her paintings without any preconceptions, biases or prejudice.
In these vibrant arrangements, some of Bradford’s characters demand special attention. The scene depicted in Pop Corn (2023) [24] seems to recreate an encounter between two people, the popcorn suggesting a movie theater as setting. In fact, it is one of the few works in which Bradford provides her figure with facial features, while the other person appears to look in their direction. Despite these hints of detail in this work, space and time seem to dissolve. Radiant surfaces merge as a cosmic whole, and the starry sky in the background extends towards infinite space.
 

[23]
Pink Suit Swimmer Seated, 2019
Acrylic on canvas
25,4 x 20,32 cm
Courtesy Susan & Michael Hort, New York
 

[24]
Pop Corn, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
101,6 x 76,2 cm
Courtesy Katherine Bradford, New York
 

[25]
Swimmers in Yellow Light, 2024
Acrylic on canvas
121,92 x 91,44 cm
Courtesy Katherine Bradford, New York