Mark Bradford

Mark Bradford utilizes discarded materials, some of which he collects near his studio in Los Angeles, as inspiration, content, and materials for his large-scale painted collages. His practice also includes photography, video, and installation work, but his primary interest has continued to be collage and painting. Growing up in a family of hairdressers in Los Angeles, he first began using materials from the salon, such as the small papers used for permanents and hair dyes, to make his art. He then began to reclaim and repurpose paper products from the street—including newspaper, advertising flyers, street posters, and other printed materials. Most of his works are horizontal in format, shaped like a billboard or outdoor sign, and his imagery often recalls the intersecting lines of a map or network. In applying the materials to the surface, the artist often tears and sands them—changing their texture and appearance, much the way paper weathers and ages over time.

This piece in the collection of Palm Springs Art Museum is based on a series of 50 billboards gathered from the Leimert Park neighborhood where Bradford maintains his studio. Those billboards pertained to an appeal by the Los Angeles Police Department for citizens to help gather information about a crime in the area. Bradford collected the printed signage, which is layered on the canvas in ways that simultaneously obscure and reveal its own content.

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