Two Sides of Joe Bradley

PHOTO BY JACK SIEGEL

Joe Bradley says that one of his new paintings depicts a “cock and balls,” but I’m having trouble seeing the reference to male anatomy in a smaller work that hangs casually in his Greenpoint studio. I’ve walked across a massive, primitive-looking composition on the floor to get a closer look, and while stepping on paintings makes this interviewer nervous, Bradley insists collecting studio grit is part of the fun. It was fun, after all, that he was looking for when he abandoned the sutured Color Field panels that he showed at the 2008 Whitney Biennial and began making large-scale, pared-down Expressionistic paintings. The slack painter has two ambitious shows opening in the next two weeks, in New York.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE.


“MOUTH AND FOOT PAINTINGS” OPENS AT GAVIN BROWN’S ENTERPRISE JANUARY 8. “HUMAN FORM” OPENS AT CANADA NEW YORK ON JANUARY 13.