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Katherine Bradford

Painter Katherine Bradford's cast of characters–ships, swimmers, superheroes–are often caught mid-motion, floating, flying and drifting against bold brushstrokes and luminous fields of color. Bradford conjures her symbolic imagery including red skies and archetypal figures from an economy of intuitive and primitive marks. Her lush, painterly surfaces merge abstraction with figuration in a highly personal way to describe, not form, but feeling. The paintings flicker and glow with a strange phosphorescent light that suggest deep, dark dreams and a hazy space between reality and imagination. Consistent throughout the work is the suggestion of new frontiers and failed journeys. Humanistic and intense, Bradford's paintings explore the infinite through color, shape, and symbol and are, in turns, humorous, epic, emotional and vulnerable.


Her works have been exhibited at MoMA PS 1 in New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Portland Museum of Art, the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, the Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, and Philadelphia's University of the Arts. She has been honored with an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.


Courtesy of Adams and Ollman

Born 1942
Hometown New York, NY
Lives and Works New York, NY
Education
MFA, State University of New York, Purchase, NY
BA, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA
Permanent Collection

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Portland Art Museum, Portland, ME

Worcester Museum of Art, Worcester, MA

Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, ME

Bates College Museum, Lewiston, ME

Bowdoin College Museum, Brunswick, ME

Smith College Museum, Northampton, ME

Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, ME

Representing Galleries

Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY

Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR

SHOWS

Launch F18

New York
Mar 19 2021 - Apr 30 2021

LAUNCH F18: 10 Years (OVR)

Launch F18

New York
Jan 23 2020 - Feb 22 2020

Dog Days

Fourteen30 Contemporary

Portland
Jun 30 2019 - Aug 10 2019

Downward Flower

Sperone Westwater

New York
Jan 07 2017 - Feb 11 2017

Katherine Bradford

Cheim & Read

New York
Jun 23 2016 - Sep 02 2016

THE FEMALE GAZE, PART TWO: WOMEN LOOK AT MEN

CANADA

New York
Jun 08 2016 - Jul 15 2016

Make Painting Great Again

CANADA

New York
Jan 09 2016 - Feb 14 2016

Fear Of Waves
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Articles

IFPDA Print Fair Preview - An Interview with Tandem Press
IFPDA Print Fair Preview - An Interview with Tandem Press

This highly respected Madison, Wisconsin, print publisher, studio space and gallery produces high quality prints with Mickalene Thomas, Derrick Adams, Lynda Benglis, and Sam Gilliam among others. Curator Sona Pastel-Daneshgar tells us more

Cig Harvey - The Art For Home Interview
Cig Harvey - The Art For Home Interview

'I love the idea of changing the light, changing the location, changing how artworks talk to each other' says the celebrated British-born photographer as she picks her favorite pieces from the Artspace archive

Hannah Parker Shares the Artworks in Her Cart
Hannah Parker Shares the Artworks in Her Cart

If there's one thing a new collector can relate to, it's the frustrating experience of being "waitlisted." Here, Artspace's trusted advisor sources available works by artists who typically have waitlists for their most sought after work.

Alice Gray Stites's Favorite Works From NADA Miami 2017
Alice Gray Stites's Favorite Works From NADA Miami 2017

Here, the ambitious curator shares her thoughts on her favorite works from Artspace’s exclusive preview of NADA’s upcoming art fair in Miami, opening December 7th.

Michael Xufu Huang’s NADA Miami Beach 2016 Picks
Michael Xufu Huang’s NADA Miami Beach 2016 Picks

The globetrotting college student turned art world insider tells us about the works that captured his imagination.

The 7 Best MFA Painting Programs in the U.S.
The 7 Best MFA Painting Programs in the U.S.

Get the inside scoop on the best MFA painting programs in the country from painters who went there.

6 Artworks You Won't Be Able to Resist
6 Artworks You Won't Be Able to Resist

Among these artworks—charismatic, wise, dashing, and playful—is your new companion. Take it home.

Old Is the New New: The Crisis of Progress in Art
Old Is the New New: The Crisis of Progress in Art

What do the Met's new museum and the art market have to do with the rise of Donald Trump? Here, a theory is ventured.

How the Art World Jettisoned Chronology in 2015
How the Art World Jettisoned Chronology in 2015

As 2015 comes to a close, Artspace's Karen Rosenberg takes a look back at one of the defining trends of the past year.

Older Artists Prove the Newest Stars at NADA
Older Artists Prove the Newest Stars at NADA

More and more often, dealers have been looking for new talent not in MFA programs but in the unlit corners of recent art history, and plenty of their finds were at the fair.

Artists to Watch at NADA Miami Beach 2015
Artists to Watch at NADA Miami Beach 2015

From an Estonian knitter of obscene sweaters to an 81-year-old Briton taking the emerging-art world by storm, these are the names to look out for at the fair.

6 Artworks to Invest in This November
6 Artworks to Invest in This November

From a major piece by one of the year’s best-reviewed young artists to a head-turning historical prank by America’s most famous living sculptor, these are works that could add major oomph to any collection.

Brad Hajzak on Cherry-Picking Art From New Haven
Brad Hajzak on Cherry-Picking Art From New Haven

The collector and advisor gives Artspace a tour of his loft in downtown New Haven and shares advice on seeking out art all along the Northeast Corridor.

Artists to Watch at NADA New York 2015
Artists to Watch at NADA New York 2015

We combed through the NADA 2015 preview to find the most intriguing artists of this year’s fair.

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