Mark Bradford’s mixed media work is characterized by its incorporation of found objects–specifically, paper–to create visually complex abstractions that respond to the impromptu network s that emerge within a city. Using the array of discarded paper materials from his Los Angeles neighborhood such as merchant posters and billboard images, his practice synthesizes the mundane in exquisitely crafted collages that blur the distinctions between high art and popular urban culture. The recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Award in 2009, Bradford continues to develop and cultivate a visual vernacular that uses detritus to manipulate notions of community and the issues of race and class stratification that arise in the contemporary urban environment.
