Joe Bradley (b. 1975)

“Bradley has settled into a more consistent style of abstract-figurative painting. Using oil-paint sticks, he draws on raw canvas with the abandon of a feisty child searching for a subject. Intermittently, he’ll drop the half-finished pieces onto the floor and let them roll around until they accrete a patina of 'shmutz,' as he calls it. Sometimes he’ll stitch together multiple in-progress canvases in an effort to further 'glitch' whatever techniques he accidentally acquires. In this way, he’s become undeniably skilled at making the unskilled mark, and the results are transcendent: standing in front of his new work stirs up a visual epiphany of lowbrow wisdom.”
- R. Simonini, "Interview with Joe Bradley,” Believer, November/December 2012.