“Above all, artists must not be only in art galleries or museums - they must be present in all possible activities. The artist must be the sponsor of thought in whatever endeavor people take on, at every level.”
That quote, attributed to Michelangelo Pistoletto, might well sum up Mark Bradford’s work. Both were at the Venice Biennelle in 2017 and both have used any material necessary to expose their beliefs in art. Art is not something to view in museums as apart from what life is.
What the Baltimore Museum of Art does better than anyone is present this concept of art as it encompasses all possible activity. What a fitting place for Bradford’s works which encompass his own autobiographical story in allegories that resonant the shared human experience.
Hephaestus at the entrance leads in to Spoiled Foot, a mixed media work on canvas, lumber, luan sheeting, drywall that looms from the ceiling, filling the room. Hephaestus is the Greek God of the forge, born lame and expelled from Mount Olympus. Bradford’s poem on Hephaestus accompanies the work, describing the god as “a figure for the artist as a young man, singled out for his difference, buffeted by social rejection and violence. “
Permanent wave end papers are used to create giant wall works: Thelxiepeia, Leucosia and Raidne with a sculptural Medusa of acrylic, paint, paper, rope, caulk in the center. The choice of media comes from Bradford’s experience in hair salons owned by his mother but so fitting for the mythical character with her tangled locks that signifies beauty, anger, and power.
Go Tell it on the Mountain, 105194 and Tomorrow Is Another Day burst with colors. Like paintings in the Western tradition, Bradford has created these with paper that has been treated and hand molded.
Niagara was a 1953 movie in which Marilyn Monroe takes a legendary walk. In this 3 minute video, Bradford films his former neighbor, Melvin, walking away from us. The ordinary scene on the street where a paper cup that has been discarded on the street rolls back and forth in one corner is a sharp contrast to the individual’s declaration of self, style and sexuality.
While Artnet and art critics proclaim this as one of the must see art exhibits in 2018, there is a better reason than that to see it. It is about Bradford’s way of relating in art who we are as people.
WANT TO GO
At Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, Md. To March 3, 2019.