The Arts and Leisure project space in East Harlem is currently presenting a collection of works by Katherine Bradford for the exhibition Shelf Paintings. For this show, Bradford offers several paintings made from materials such as acrylics, cardboard, wood, clay, and paper mache. With this particular series of paintings, she integrates the styles of artists Philip Guston, Howard Hodgkin, and Malcolm Morley and she nicely blends hot and cool colors together. In one piece called Phoenix, Bradford captures the warmth of the sunshine by using colors that such as pink which smoothly turns to orange which then turns to yellow.
 |
| "Phoenix" (2014) by Katherine Bradford |
The light shines upon a curved structure resembling a mountain with several multi-colored round objects, including one pink one sitting on top of a cylinder. Another piece titled Aqua Blocks, depicts several blocks stacked one on top of another. Some of the blocks have colors like red and green, while others are black and white; the bold colors serve as a contrast to the sky blue background.
One painting where Bradford uses more monochromatic tones is White Preserver which illustrates a windowsill with several round objects on top and bright light is shining through the oval-shaped window with a silver piece of metal in its center.
Bradford’s dedication and her keen color sense is evident in all of her works that are very rich in depth and feeling. She splits her time between New York and Brunswick, Maine and her work has been featured in several museum and gallery shows across the country.
At Arts and Leisure, 1571 Lexington Ave. (between 100th and 101st streets), through Dec. 14. The gallery is open Wed.—Sun. from 11 a.m.—6 p.m., or by appointment.
