Katherine Bradford's Paintings are mildly clunky
abstractions filled with domestic symbolism. Motifs and techniques from
past bodies of work reappear here, with more or less success. The large
canvases are filled with imposing blocks of color, awkwardly positioned,
somewhat cartoon-like figures, and thin washes of acrylic paint. But her
repetitive and limited approach unifies the work. The color fields are
consistently flat, the figures are invariably outlined, and patches of
thinned out acrylic are invariably if haphazardly, placed on top. Bradford
makes it clear we are to take the figures lightly; there is humor in the
awkwardness of the occasional big foot, or short arm, or block-like head.
The figures, some of which are larger than life, are placed close to the
edges of the canvas, as if they can barely fit into the picture plane,
causing nice compositional tension. By contrast, in her earlier
Pool Paintings, a great deal of compositional energy was expended
on constructing a deep and vast space in which the unimposing figures are
mere blobs of a single color. In this recent series, the figures are the
center of attention and the space around them serves simply to contain and
balance. The arms and hands of the figures all express one thing -
comfort. And this brings us to a clear theme of the show, for this,
comfort, is one of the central tasks of motherhood. The sense of warmth
and domestic coziness in these paintings, especially in the gestures of
the figures, surely also speaks to what we all can use as we make our way
through this long pandemic. The scale of the mother figure in paintings
such as Motherhood, Mother's Lap, and
Guest for Dinner speak to the role of the mother from a child’s
point of view. The mother's arms stretch unusually far to console her
child in Motherhood, the mother's lap is unusually big in
Mother's LapMother's Lap, and so able to accommodate all of her
several children comfortably; in all of these paintings, the mother's
presence takes over the room.
The bright reds, oranges, and pinks accentuate the light-hearted nature of
the paintings; the frequent pale yellow adds a subtle glow. The dark
outlines of the figures accentuate the figures’ clunkiness, but in doing
so, express the artist's confidence in her constructions. Each painting
has some odd element or other that the viewer can't help but notice and
attend to: a glowing pair of white undies, lumpy yellow circles for boobs,
a funky pair of tights, a scribbled barely human face, a clownishly long
bowling shoe. As much as these paintings reference classic color field
abstraction, these odd elements also pull them towards a world of
eccentric personality and striking atmosphere. It's as if Bradford is
constructing the world as it might be when seen through the eyes of a
child. The color blocks stand for auras or feelings, the odd symbols and
fuzzed-out areas stand for things not completely understood. The grandeur
of the mother figure dominates the child's vision, underscoring the role
of the mother as the most important thing in the child's mind. A mix of
satisfying and sometimes frustrating elements, it is a consistently
engaging show.
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