~JOE BRADLEY/CANADA/THE NEW YORK TIMES
JOE BRADLEY opened a show of beautifully minimal and yet totally resonant and ‘animated’ paintings at CANADA, NYC. Titled ‘Kurgan Waves’, the show opened on January 27, 2006 and ran until March 4, 2006.
the above photo is a view of 2 of the large scale, but thinly produced paintings. The sparse production irionically only added to the ‘depth’ of the expressiveness of the totally abstract but evocative work. ‘The show is amazing – in how such simple minimalism could be so stunning in its visual resonance, depth and character’ – artlovers home page (March 7, 2006)
this photo was taken at the opening, hence the beer bottles on the floor.
photo: Nancy Smith
‘KURGAN WAVES’ garnered JOE BRADLEY a highlighted review (with an image) in the FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 2006 NEW YORK TIMES. Written by KEN JOHNSON, the review appeared on the prestigious THE LISTINGS page.
The text by Mr. Johnson was very perceptive .. here are some quotes:
“In art, pretending to be dumber, more juvenile or less rational than you are usually serves an advanced sophistication. It certainly does in the surprisingly sweet and mysteriously resonant exhibition by Joe Bradley, a young New York-based painter having his third solo show. Mr. Bradley’s multipanel paintings consist of flimsy, store-bought canvases brusquely painted single colors and arranged to create the much simplified images of armless, big-shouldered figures resembling primitive video game characters. Standing almost nine feet … (they) seem to have been gathered for some kind of tribal ceremony……”
“To use a Minimalist vocabulary or such unabashedly anthropomorphic purposes is somehow comical….. But it also vividly expresses how we may experience even the most abstract artworks as animated by life-like or supernatural energies. We may not be as sophisticated as we think.”
this is a visual scan of the NEW YORK TIMES article.
JOE BRADLEY, as MALIBU VON, is the frontman of the NYC band – Cheesesburger