Exhibition Catalogue
"Change Rework Transform" by Robert Bradford GALLERY
SNEHTA
NODNOL EXHIBITIONS
Introduction The ‘Trash Art’ Series | Development Process 2019-2022 Robert resumed 2D painting as his main focus in 2019 when he lost his almost perfect six year old seaside studio to Council redevelopment. (The development area remains locked up to this day) . The first works were a long series of abstract collages on paper called ‘Cuttups’ in which he began to attach old life drawings and other older works on paper onto newly invented backgrounds. He then moved to a live/work studio space. Always his ideal and which greatly suited the Covid lockdowns that followed. He likes to wander in and out of the work area for a think , and whilst watching paint dry. Robert then produced large acrylic works on canvas , at first figuratively for about a year.These works were drawn and adapted largely from internet material and were quite varied in both style and content. Early in 2021 he made another switch, deciding to rework/recycle many of these works as abstractions , seeking a greater freedom and experimentation into his work process . Usually the figurative works were initially turned upside down or sideways in order to lesson their impact as external representations, before areas of them begun to be deleted and replaced . His aim was to keep some sections of the figuration where possible and all of these works retain varying large or small degrees of such 'evidence.’ As the new works developed the artist found that responding directly to the underlying forms spaces and colours of the figurative works helped to trigger new more abstract ideas , and next the layering of sections of the Cuttup drawings onto their surfaces added a further stimulus, structure, visual depth and a valued ‘history’ to the overall process. Some the the works use smaller old canvases fixed together irregularly and which end to have a slightly more casual ’punk look,’ There are now about 15 completed works in this ongoing Trash Art Series, which owe some apparent acknowledgement to both abstract expressionism and to art pauvre. obert States :R “I have always enjoyed questioning what might constitute a ‘contemporary’ painting and like to play with often conflicting elements within a single canvas .. I take particular pleasure when some of these elements surprise me by ‘just about hanging together’ creating what I hope constitutes ‘an edge’ “ 2022 R.B 2022.
''Elements One''
'' Fragments''
''Nebulous Stimulus Three''
''Nebulous Stimulus Two''
"Nebulous Stimulus One "
Artist Interview Which contemporary trends in the art scene are you following and who are your biggest influences? I try not to follow what is trendy in the Contemporary Art Scene , I suppose that I try to create my own direction at least. I think it would be difficult to pin down specific trends at the moment anyway .. as there seem to be many .and diverse directions that artists are travelling in .. I tend to respond most in painting to what is described as expressionist work German and American particularly but I also have things in common with Art Pauvre . I particularly like Baselitz and Kieffer but also look quite a wide variety of people such as Picasso Mondrian Magritte , Ernst, and Freud, to name but a few that come immediately to mind. I particularly like Cragg as a sculptor.
Where do you reside and how would you describe the art scene in your country? I have moved around a lot and have lived and worked in California USA l near Lyon in France and various parts of England London and the West Country .. I have managed also to travel a lot usually with my sculpture and installation work which has been shown in more than 25 countries including Qatar Hong Kong and China.. Now I live by the sea in Herne Bay on the Coast of Kent in South East England . I originally came here to perform pyrotechnic fire sculpture on the beach and returned to do the same thing years later. I like the sense of space that the seaside provides and the feelings of nostalgia and of potential escape ! What is your work-day like? Just before lockdown I moved to a ground floor flat where I am able to both live, paint in my front room studio , and (occasionally) make small sculptures outside.. I have always wanted a live /work space rather than a separate studio .. My average working day consists of wandering in and out of the studio from waking until loss of natural light in the evenings.. Sometimes this first just involves a look and a think but often I plan to do one small thing to a painting and end up staying for a couple of hours or more ... I often work the paintings very wet on the floor so I can also wander in and out watching paint dry... which isn't necessarily as boring as it is reputed to be!
Is there any advice you would give to your younger self? My restlessness as a person has also been reflected in my experimentations with different media such as film recycled material sculpture etc. etc. Whilst probably none of this has been entirely wasted looking back I wish I had accepted a place at the Slade for painting rather than at the RCA for film as I work better on my own with painting or sculpture than in a group (and where careerism and hustling for money to be able to make movies is not so essentia! I suppose I wish I had been more peaceful as a person and artist. My advice to my younger self ? Be yourself and find out who and what you are and need as soon as you can. I also spent time in therapy and as a psychotherapist in parallel with art making. That was useful too.
What is your favorite part of this job? Making Art is a form of relationship between myself and the evolving object . Each painting is both a mystery and a puzzle .. theoretically paintings could become almost anything . But within my own limitations. Some paintings feel like they make themselves, others I struggle with and the work can become a battle ground . Either way the paintings intrigue me. I like that they can sometimes stretch me, beyond what I can usually expect of myself . Then there is the looking back and analysis. e.g I liked that one before but I don't like it so much now. Is this painting better than that . which are the more important and why ?Painting A) looks good in itself but does it lead anywhere ? Painting B) Might look rough approximate or unresolved ... but is it .. could it lead somewhere else? Does the series progress? Sometimes it feels that I should go backwards in order to go forwards .. sometimes I do that . All in all I enjoy the questioning and the experimentation and playing . it is the stuff of life .
How have you developed in your career over the past 5 years and where do you see yourself 5 years from now? In the past three to five years I have chosen to switch my main focus away from sculpture using recycled and upcycled materials back to using paint on canvas . although I do still make sculpture occasionally on commission ) ..Several reasons combined for me to make this decision. I am entering the 'autumn of my career' and I have wanted a more internalised i/ntroverted period. I had become 'branded '.. known as a 'recycled toy artist' and also as a 'dog artist' and I wanted to change that perception.. Then covid... and lockdown happened .for me which suited my new wishes towards a new kind of self examination and process.. For this period I removed myself from representation by commercial galleries.. and worked without much intention of exhibiting..It was like starting all over again.. Now after eighteen months of working figuratively and another eighteen months of working Over The Figurative Works Abstractly I feel that I have found a more personal visual voice .. I expect this continue indefinitely and am happy to be exhibiting these new works which for me represent a new freedom.
How do you choose your themes? Is there a theme you return to regularly? It is hard for me to explain how I choose my themes for paintings ... because this is mostly linked to my mental / emotional state at any one time .. Revisiting representational painting after a lot of years I found myself going back to ideas that I had explored a long time ago .. word paintings , erotic paintings , book paintings , collaged paintings , political paintings etc .still containing some recycled elements.. I wanted also to try out things that I had not used before ..e.g. incorporating line drawing into paint. For this purpose I for a while I explored landscape as a theme of 'Escape' from lockdown .. Gradually I began to work more intuitively and less conceptually and without a specific theme at the start of a work.. just responding to last thing/ shape mark or colour that I had put onto the canvas .This process continues read.
Is there a connection between your process/the materials you use and the message you want to convey in your work? I have always liked and used layering in my 2D and even my 3D work. I consider both structure and intensity as important factors in what I am trying to convey .. For a couple of years in the USA I researched methods the creation of 2D visual space on a flat plane.both to clarify these things for myself and for the benefit students that I was teaching there ... The layering process suits the use of a acrylic paint better than oil (although I do like the richness of oil paint) .. Acrylic lends itself better to making transparent layers , has a quicker drying time for creating 'misregistrations ' of areas and allows for a gradual build up of the overall image and levels physical levels of visual space ..Collaging onto the canvases also quickly creates new levels on the picture plane .. Although I admire many minimalist artists I want to create worlds within worlds in each work and constant movement and shifting perceptions of how each painting can be
How do you define success in an artist’s career? What is artistic success ? .. Another question without a single simple answer ! Perhaps it is best defined two ways into Personal success and Wordly / Career success .. For me making art is very much a personal journey of reflecting back to myself thoughts feelings and actions related to both my own internal world and reflecting upon the external world and society in which I /we live. .. However it is also important to me as a means of outward communication ... i.e for me it would be pointless activity if the work that I make was never exhibited ... I do love it when somebody buys something of mine ! especially if it also a piece of work that I am particularly pleased with and satisfied by.. ! In the past I have felt that My Success would be realised if I could live by what I am creating.. Sometimes that has happened quite well and sometimes not well at all !...An artist friend once said to me that if you make something innocuous you can sell it .. but I want my work to have an 'edge'. It has been and continues to be a Roller Coaster Ride
Is there something people need to know about you or the way you think so they can understand your artwork? I hope that I have conveyed in my answers to the ten questions above many of the things about myself that will assist others viewing my work to have a reasonable idea of what my works is about .. However I very much consider viewing art to be a two way process between the artist and his/herself .. and the viewers response and interpretation of what is seen to exist within each work.. .and series' of works .. I hope that my work is constantly moving progressing and changing , and that I do not just keep repeating and reproducing things that have been successful in the past .Foe me . 'Travelling hopefully is equally as important as arriving' !
" Influencers "
''Pooled''
"Unsettle''
''Hothouse''
''Boxscape''
'Sad You Are Not Here'
'Wish You Were Here'
'Wind'
''Fissure''
Sensordered
'Attached '
'Mingled'
' Isolate '
"CHANGE REWORK TRANSFORM" by
Robert Bradford