Over the past two decades, American artist Joe Bradley's style has varied so wildly that headlines announcing his re-invention seem to be the only consistent aspect of his career. All that transformation has worked out for him—despite resisting market pressure to maintain a recognisable aesthetic, Bradley has become one of the most prominent painters in New York.
If Bradley had a conceptual constant, it would be the way he treats the Western art-historical canon like a Rolodex of references to be called on: the legacy of gestural Abstract Expressionism is evident in his large-scale, raw canvases; nods to Primitivism and Arte Povera are visible in his scrappy, graffiti-like drawings; and his early monochromatic paintings—hung on the wall in groupings that recall the blockish shapes of robots—appear distinctly Minimalist.
Those 'robot paintings' were the first works to gain critical attention. Although Bradley was already a notable figure in the New York Lower East Side art scene (having moved there after graduating from Rhode Island School of Design in 1999), the paintings turned heads when they debuted in his first exhibition at Canada gallery in 2006.
Bradley was later invited to exhibit monochromes in the 2008 Whitney Biennial and at MoMA PS1 (2006). Since then, his work has continued to be exhibited in major galleries and museums around the world, appearing newly metamorphosed with each show.
One of Bradley's most notable bodies of work is 'Schmagoo Paintings' (2008)—a series of cartoonish grease-pencil drawings on canvas. The works, when exhibited at Canada in New York in 2008, were described by the gallery as 'a waste of time to try to understand and a pleasure to pursue.'