The Long Road Home with Katherine Bradford
Words by Karen Leong | Photography by Jesse Lizotte
Katherine Bradford is a maven, but not of solitary accord. Over the last 80 years she has worn many hats – from motherhood, to bohemian artist, and mercurial child – moved mainly by water and femininity in flux. Bradford self-styles as a figurative painter who started out abstract. Throughout her career, she learned how to feel at home with paint, guiding the mind without photos, gadgets or projectors.
She made a home in Maine and then Brooklyn in the 70s, where the artistic synergy of poets, sculptures and painters started to thrum to life. She existed in the unconventional vector of a single mother and starving artist — relocating after the mean bent of marital woes started to weigh down on her art-making. The Guggenheim fellow recalls a time when Brooklyn didn’t exist as a blinkering mecca for creatives. When it was every artist’s dream to own a studio in the borough, the atmosphere for artistic ingenuity had faltered. The New York art world was punitive —and success—; she was allergic to the word. What seemed to work was writing down everything that critics and gallerists she invited over had to say - especially the negative.
Conversely, water reminds Bradford of Maine. When she dips her brush in paint, it resembles water from the very precept. People and water: assigned together, they render beautifully on canvas. The reflections and transparency feature heavily in her body of work, a forenote dedicated to her childhood living within a peninsula. She swam as a teenager and continued to do so well into college. “Woman in Water” (1999) is a fractal reinterpretation of those years. Today Katherine Bradford still credits the importance of moving between the two cities with an earnest appreciation. She says, “Travelling between the two jolts, you’re able to see each place newly when you arrive. It keeps your senses fired.”
Primarily creating with colour, the central desire of Bradford’s to play with texture and contrast is all visual interest. She also attributes her curiosity as another skill her mother passed onto her. Slick art is reviled by the artist, and she is quick to assert, “The artists that are happiest being artists are curious people.” She maintains this by taking as many photos on her iPhone, and soliciting conversations with friends that are prone to dispute. In the past season, Henry Taylor’s show remained a stout favourite of hers: it was riddled with mistakes. Bradford has always been interested in the fearlessness of execution without hesitation. Says the artist on an improvisational approach, “First, get off the couch. Dip your brush in the paint and put it on canvas. And keep repeating. I gotta move. Just do it. What you don’t do is a lot of research. Just jump into it. No computers. The method is old-school, but it isn’t the wrong path.”
A Katherine Bradford piece is also comically distinguished by how much it teems with life. The formula to the acquired result is a gut-instinctive mastery inherent to her artistic practice. If the painting looks too stiff, she starts over. If it isn’t clearly a statement, she keeps going. If she tries too hard, she gives the whole thing a brush over. If there's a part that looks academic, she removes it. If she hates the colour, she diffuses it until satisfied.
It was at the Whitney Biennale where Bradford last felt moved by another work which shared her inclination for novice and whimsy. Nicole Eisenmann had crafted a vast sculpture of giant people walking. “Procession” (2019) is a parade scene. It is substantively very loose - almost as if the artist threw the clay (one of 54 elements) onto the host bodies of the multi-figure sculpture, armed with miscellaneous hardware of everyday use. Bradford notes that the way she used her materials was masterful. Not skillful, but masterful.
Bradford is quick to pose this snippet of life advice to the younger generation: Early success is truant. For her it took a long time. At 81 years old, there are more opportunities now than ever, and the demand only climbed steadily when she was hitting the milestones of 60 and 70. She sees young artists wanting a lot very quickly. Navigating the art world — one really has to lean into it. It takes tremendous focus, which bears new problems because life occurs. The passion and commitment to see it through is the freestanding ideal result. From Katherine, the world can anticipate a solo opening in NYC. Despite her most recent exhibition taking place outside Berlin in a refurbished castle, she’s a little harried about the opportunity to put on a solo feature. Even after all the acclaim, Bradford still feels she can only dispense life advice with a grain of salt. Painting is not intellectual, at least not to her. “Don’t be stupid,” says Katherine, “but make it a visual journey.”