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THERE'S AN ABSTRACTION THAT HAPPENS IN THE CITY WHICH INTERESTS ME. SIMULTANEOUS SHIFTS IN CULTURE AND MEANING WHEN YOU HAVE THE MEXICAN TAQUERIA NEXT TO THE BLACK WIG SHOP ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE VIETNAMESE NAIL SALON. YOU CANNOT STEP INTO THE SAME RIVER TWICE. FOR FRES n 1493, on Columbus's second voyage, the Spanish explorerJuan Ponce de Leon came totheAmericas. In a series ofvoyages from his home port ofSan Juan, PuertoRico, hediscovered the Bahamasand Florida. Basedon hisdiscov- eries, SpainclaimedalloftheterritorysouthofVirginiatoKeyWest, andwest totheMississippi.ThedrivingforcebehindmuchofdeLeon'sexplorationswas his obsessionwith tales ofthe Fountain ofYouth.This mythical fountainwas reputed to flow with water that cured illness and granted eternal youth. Perhaps equally important to both the explorer and his king, it was also rumoredtositamidstatreasureofgoldand silver. MarkBradford'scommissionedinstallationinthegalleryoftheWhitney MuseumatAltria, VeryPowerfulLords, was inspired bya letterwritten byJuan Ponce de Leon in 1521 in which he implores the King ofSpain to continue fundinghisexplorations.Theconquistador'squestforyouth, beauty,territory, andwealth providedBradfordwithatapestryofideasaptlyrelatedtocontem- porarysociety, given the persistence ofthese myths and the perpetuation of thesedesires.Consistingofalarge-scaledwall paintingandseveralsculptures madeofmanipulated foundobjects, theexhibition brings togetherculturally diverse notions ofritual with Eurocentricemblems ofyouth and pulchritude as manifestedthrough systems ofpowerandcommerce. Forthisinstallation,Bradford'smaterialsaredrawn largelyfromproducts and services designed to make one look or feel good via artificial enhance- ment—permanent press hair papers, signage promising the transformative potentialofconsumerproducts, linoleum flooringand checkered mats lifted from standard salon decor, bottled water, and the promotion ofnature as a spiritual means to transcend the burdens ofculture. Bradford has used our culture'sdrivingdesireforpermanentyouthandbeauty(acknowledgingthat in contemporary Western culture, one must have youth or the appearance ofyouth tobe considered beautiful) as the central anchorto his installation. He investigatescultural systems ofpower, hierarchy, and control, both ofthe past andthe present. Bradford's paintings recall formal aspects ofmodernism while being grounded in the urban materials ofhis Los Angeles community, a synthesis ofart historical concerns and popular black aesthetics. His previous work, drawnmorecloselyfromhisexperienceasasalon stylist, centeredon investi- gations ofethnicity, beautyand artifice, and ritual and process. His signature painting process incorporates layers ofsinged permanent press end papers with synthetic polymerorcellophane hairdyes tocreate translucent washes ofcolor.The final paintings recall the investigationsofthegrid characteristic ofmodernist painting, such as that ofAgnes Martin (whose work the artist oftenspecificallyreferences intitles suchasPressin'Agnes, andOnaClearDay,I CanUsuallySeeAlltheWaytoWatts), but invigoratedwith socioculturalcontent. Abstraction, for Bradford, becomes a semiotic vehicletointroduceanambiguous interpretation ofraceandethnicity.Whilethepoliticalissuesof African-American hair have been extensively treated in contemporaryart ofthe pastdecade, with hair functioning as a material stand-in for issues of racial representation, Bradford pushes the synecdoche a step further. Byfocus- ing on the processes andrituals associatedwith his community, the artist both celebrates and questions culturally determined stereotypes which, however, simultaneously provide the venue to express increasinglyhybrid manifesta- tionsbasedonthose definitions. In Bradford's earlierworks (left), his material sources and the textured, slightly scarred surface ofthe paintings suggestedatype ofskin. The work functions as a substitute for physical subjectivity, a presence-in-absence resembling the strategy ofearly-nineties artists' use ofthe painterlymark, text, orrepresentational synecdoche to address issues ofcorporeality and the OnaClearDay,ICan body. Inthe more recentpaintings, however, the elegant spatialdepth ofhis UsuallySeeAlltheWayto delicate, jittery grids has become increasingly interrupted by found-object Watts,2001(detail). — — Mixedmediaoncanvas, elements print media such as magazine images orpostertext thatdisrupt 72x84in.(182.9x the purity ofthe painted surface and fix his works more firmly to specific 213.4cm).Collection materialconnotations. ofNinahandMichael Lynne;courtesy Bradford's engagementwiththeaestheticofa specificpartoftheblack Lombard-FreidFine urban community also reflects his exploration ofclass and trade structures Arts,NewYork within neighborhoods dominated historicallyby specific ethnicities. "Until Pressin'Agnes,2002. about 1950, CentralAvenue andthe southeast partofthe citywere the only Permanentwaveend papersandsynthetic places blacks, and, forthatmatter, Mexicans couldlive," he explains: polymeronwall,95x Tliehousingcovenantsstartedliftingandthemiddleclassfled tothenorthern 145in.(241.3x368.3 and western parts ofthe city. The urban population became imbalanced. cm).Collectionof theartist;courtesy With the absence oftheprofessional class, the dope man and the "gangsta" SusanVielmetterLA. became the norm, as did out and out violence on any male who was "sissy" Projects,LosAngeles orother. Thedepartureofthemiddleclassholdsalotofhistoricalimportance because they became entrenched in a new integrated model that was morepalatable to the mainstream white society, and inner-citystyle went virtually unnoticed until the entertainmentindustrytapped the commercial potentialof"gangsta"rap. Gangstarapmadeeverybodypayattentiontoinner- city style, ifonly as a new sitefor colonization. But inner-city style has always been here, the skeleton in the closet now worth some money, but still hardly official orrespected. I use the aesthetic ofsoutheastLosAngeles to highlight that region and all it carries, not in a romantic sense but to explicate its tenacity and complexity. A hybridityfrom within a kind ofboundedness.2 L — In the Whitney exhibition, the large multipanel painting, The Devil Is BeatingHisWife(2003), which occupies thegallery's back wall, functions as the visualanchorofthe installation's multimedia elements.This newwall piece is — Bradford's first which usesentirely"non-art" materials the permanent press end papers, inexpensive fabricdye, and layersoffound advertising posters and other local signage. Bradford's paintings have become increasingly scaled to the architectural environment; movingaway from paintingas an object, his current work more closelyoccupies the realm of mural. Issues ofcommerce, advertising, and material specificityare increasingly present in the mural, as Bradford more explicitlyaddresses his external environment. Signage in particular plays a more prominent role in the painting's layered construction. While sustained viewing reveals the presence ofsuch collage elements in his earlierwork, here they take on a more active compo- sitional presence. The painting is built up in visible layers, each remaining in traces ofcolororthe physical thickness ofthe panel edges as the new layeris applied.Theeffectofthis layeringrecallstheaccumulationofposters andads one often encounters on city streets, where a poster fora new rap artist lies beneath a beauty product ad, which in turn is covered by a sales announce- ment for the nearby liquor store. This process functions both as a formal device to achieve visual depth in the work, and also references Bradford's commitmenttoatrulyhybrid notionofexistence, thatessentialdefinitions particularly racial orethnic — definitions are no longer useful or accurate, if they ever were. The artwork encourages a rearticulated understandingbetweenone- selfand others, not a happy fusion of difference, but rather an insistence on the inextricable intersection of allaspects ofidentity. The palette of the work's most visible layers movesawayfromthe silvery blues, pinks,andyellowsthat characterized the shimmering surfaces ofBradford's earlier works, though TheDevilIsBeatingHis like the posters peeking through, the blues and greens ofthe earlier layers Wife.2003(installation view).Permanentwave (drawn from the palette of Monet's Water Lilies series) make appearances endpapers,billboard throughout. On the final layer, the translucent blacks and neon yellow remnants,andstencils. aredrawn from the familiarmaterials ofpolicebarriersandconstruction sites 11x20ft.(3.4x6.1m). Collectionoftheartist; one often sees in a cityscape. The title refers to a black folk saying that courtesyLombard-Freid describes the simultaneous occurrence ofrain and sunshine. Buildingon the FineArts.NewYork multivalence ofmaterial associations he is drawn to throughout his work. Bradford invokes the idea that media assume different meanings based on theircontext. "Thesignage in the hood isabout somethingthat isabandoned." Bradford explains. The barricades thatgo up around burnt-out buildings, some ofwhich are still not rebuiltfrom the 1992 riots. You learn quickly walking by these urban abstractions that within the walls ofthose abandoned buildings lie 5 accumulatedstories, half-forgottenbutretaininganenergy-in-waiting. White, upperclass, n—eighborhoods, ontheotherhand, usuallyputupbarricadesaround potentiality renovation, new construction, that kind ofthing. Money is comingin; thosesame barricadesinsome black neighborhoods are all about moneydonegone.3 The painting's layers function as a kind ofurban archaeology, each stratumevokingamomentinthehistoryofthelocalcommunitywhilesimul- taneouslyaddressingtherealityofamoreglobalhistorybuiltuponthe layers ofitspast,evenwhenapparentlycloakingorobliteratingthem. Describingthe "ongoing erasure and rewriting of ownership that flows in the 'hood," Bradfordreenactsthe "constantcollisionofsigns" thatcharacterizesthefluid economies among culturally hybrid communities in relationship to larger trade models ofacapitalistsystem. Questioning commerce, a displaywall ofshelves lined with blue and clear water bottles glow and sparkle seductively, their curved contours unmarredbylabels andtheirsuggestivelyanthropomorphic forms enhanced with glimmering silver necklaces, champagne tags specially inscribed "Welcome." EntitledWaterLilies (2003), theworkelaborates on the conflation ofdesire and commerce, its structure derived from the perfectly arranged shelves ofa drugstore orcosmetics shop. The product saturationcharacteris- tic ofcapitalism is designed to entice the customer, not with the material — object,butratherwithitsconceptualpromise thepossibilityofachievingthe always-elusive perfection ofyouth and beauty. Again, Bradford engages the viewerintheactualityofourworld, buttroubles the neatconsumerencapsu- lation that commodity transactions equal beauty and satisfaction. The late- twentieth-centurycrazeforbottledwatermightinfactbeseenasourupdated version ofbeliefin water's transformative properties: recalling everything fromthe physicalbenefits ofthe FountainofYouth andthe Baths ofVichyto culturally diverse examples ofthe spiritual healing power ofsacred springs andwells rangingfrom ancient Greek orHindu rituals and NativeAmerican rites to Christianbaptism. Usingthe actualwaterbottles one canbuyatany deli or drugstore, Bradford has transformed the products lining the shelves intoajewellikecompositionofblue-shadedtransparencies, humorouslytitled afterMonet'sfamous seriesdepicting theGivernygardens(itselfanartificially transformed natural landscape).As partofBradford's largerendeavorinVery Powerful Lords, WaterLilies plays with the boundaries ofnature and culture, a waterfall ofinexpensive plastic products promising access to purity and beauty, butofferingonlybanality. The shiny black linoleum covering the gallery floor is punctuated with checkered, hemispherical salon mats, reinforcingthe constructionas a stylized, artificial landscape. Streaks ofneonyellowfromthe paintingreflect in its surface as ifon a body ofwater, while the mats double as floating lily pads. Bradfordcreatesatotalenvironmentfortheviewertoenter,butonethat moves fluidly between inside and outside, reality and artifice, universal spirituality and local materiality. The central three-dimensional form, Two Faced (2003), is a structurallygeometricwoodenframe onwhich Bradford has mountedaslick, sharptowerofidenticalmirroredlightboxes, eachdepicting the same idyllic natural landscape. Formally, the work recalls elements of Minimalist sculpture with its clean, mute form that theatricallyengages the viewerwith its physicalpresence in space. TwoFaced's serialconstructionand 6 repetitionofforms also recalls minimalist strategies, particularly in Bradford's use ofindustrially produced objects. However, the light boxes are preexisting found objects, an updated Duchampian gesture thai questions ideas of< Kiss andaesthetics.These kitschy, decorative objects might be found, forexample, in inexpensive Asian restaurants, and tend to be associated with popular. ratherthan refined, taste.Thetransformationengenderedbytheirplacement WaterLilies,2003 in the gallery rests on their function as a kind ofart form, questioning the (installationview). Water,plasticwater relationship of class (as a complicated weave of ethnicity, education, and bottles,champagne economics) and concurrentexpectations oftaste. tags,andplastic The image of a perfectly imagined waterfall, rocks, trees, and blue shelving,dimensions variable.Collection skyis backlit and motorized to suggest endless cascading, accompanied by its oftheartist;courtesy "natural" soundtrack of moving water and chirping birds. Its attempts to Lombard-FreidFine Arts.NewYork re-createthenaturalworldactuallydistances it from reality.The manufactured artificialityofeach light box functionstosignifythe ideaofnature, ratherthan depict it in actuality. The dissonance between reality and artifice is not an opposition perse, but rathera vacillatingcoexistence in which one may take prominence at different moments. This dissonance is echoed in the boxes* sound. Bradford has manipulated the mechanism within the boxes so that each misses a beat now and then, creating syncopated music. This slightly disjunctive soundtrack and the blurring ofsound clarity resulting from the cacophonous layering ofmultiple light boxes short-circuits the notion ofan equivalence between their pictorial surfaces and the true existence ofthe Utopian world theydepict. Though the light box images are Utopian oases in which all human presence has been carefully excluded. Bradford's structure emphasizes the 7 inevitableegotisminherentintheseconceptionsofnature. Becausetheimages inthese lightboxes are framedbymirrored surfaces, one cannotengage the piecewithoutone's reflectionliterallyframingthis artificialscene.Whilethe mirror is clearly the locus of superficial obsessions with self-image as it pertains tobeautyandyouth incontemporaryculture, italso recallswateras the first reflective surface, the first means of understanding oneself as a discrete physical identity in the world, yet always one troubled by ideas of — separation from self. The Greek myth of Narcissus, in fact in which the protagonistwas socaptivatedbythebeautyofhisownreflection(perceivedas — anotherperson) thathewastedawayatwater's edge is the original mirror- stage as defined by philosopher Jacques Lacan. The reflection provides an external image thatgives rise to the mental representation ofan individual self,butalsoestablishes this entityasfundamentallydependentuponexternal objects. Isolating subjectivity in relationship to one's own recognition of perception "from the outside" establishes an interesting metaphor for the inside/outside simultaneityofBradford's sculpture,whichpersists throughout — the installation the salonflooras a reflectingpool, the glitteringbottles as waterfall, andthe streetposterashighart. — The idealized landscape portrayed inthese lightboxes untouchedby — culture orbyhuman hands onlyunderscores the artificialityofdesire fora perfect, spirituallypurenaturalworld. LiketheFountainofYouth, thisnotion ofnatureexists onlyas aculturalconstruction.Yet,thecinematicprogression ofrepeated imagery in the stacked boxes builds an aesthetically evocative atmosphere, while the glowingblue light haloingthe structure and its strik- ingphysical presence maintain the seductive possibilities ofthis mythicfont ofpurity, transformation, and peace that persist in contemporary society. Despitetheinconsistenciesinthisoppositionbetweennatureandculture,the desire to engage with a "purer" mode ofexistence manifests itselftoday in paradoxes such as the environment-destroyingSUV, advertised to challenge raw roads and worlds it will never take on. As a sibling of the historical impulse forexploration and conquest, contemporaryrepresentations ofthe — desire to reintegrate with nature gear-laden retreats to the woods, the popularity of extreme traveling as a search for self, country houses in — unspoiled villages and rustic summer escapes are usually indicative ofa system of power that privileges one culture or community over another. Bradford's work also evokes the notion ofNature associated with the exoti- — cized Other an elevation ofand condescension to ethnic cultures regarded as direct or primal, from the pure pastoral ofthe noble savage, to the Zen garden ofthe spiritual Oriental. Onanotherlevel, TwoFaced'swhimsicalevocationofanactualfountain relatestothe notionofmaterialdesire permeatingthe installation. Fountains can connote a kind of folly, a superstitious ritual of hopes turned into a — monetary exchange one throws a penny into the wateras a symbol ofthe abstractwish, aless expensiveversionofofferingmaterial supplicationtothe gods to ensure the fulfillmentofone's prayers. Above the sculpture, ropes of pennies twist into the lighting track, drooping downjust into one's line of vision, wishes thrown and frozen in their trajectory. Ambiguously present, theyrecallthephrase "penniesfromheaven," immortalizedbyBingCrosbyin asongdescribingthe necessarycoexistenceofgoodwithbad. Infact,thelyrics explicitlyacknowledgeadependenceonexchangetoreturnthepositivefrom 10