I was reading about the community outreach of the artist chosen to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale in 2017. How inspiring to see a once-disadvantaged kid reach back to help others after he meets with success!
Sebastian Smee writes at the Boston Globe, “The next artist to represent America at the Venice Biennale, the world’s most prestigious contemporary art event, will be the Los Angeles-based artist Mark Bradford. And his exhibit for the US Pavilion will be presented by the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University. …
“The recipient of a 2009 ‘genius’ grant from the MacArthur Foundation, Bradford grew up in South Los Angeles. He worked for many years in his mother’s hair salon, which later became his studio. …
“Bradford, 54, is known for his tough, large-scale abstract works made from layers of paper, much of it salvaged and repurposed, and bound together with clear shellac. Using power sanders and other devices, he then works back into the surface, exposing the layers underneath. The results are some of the most beautiful, raw, and inventive works in recent art. …
“Bradford and his partner, Allan DiCastro, along with the collector Eileen Harris Norton, established a private foundation called Art + Practice, which combines an exhibition space with the provision, among other things, of job training and other forms of support for children transitioning out of foster care.”
More at the Globe. Check out Bradford, Norton and DiCastro’s nonprofit, Art + Practice, here.
Photo: Caitlin Julia Rubin
Christopher Bedford (left), director of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, with artist Mark Bradford at the Rose in 2014.
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