Mark Bradford
Mark Bradford
Mark Bradfordis an American artist living and working in Los Angeles...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionArtist
CountryUnited States of America
belong choose expected figured people room run society suddenly visit
I never expected to run into a room and suddenly I belonged. I figured people who live on the fringes of society, they're more free. They can choose to visit anywhere; they don't belong to anywhere. It's like being without a nation, in a way.
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Autopsies will take several days, and if DNA is required, it will even take longer than that.
felt notice people pride starting taking
There were a lot of people congratulating us on the win, and that really felt great. A lot of people are starting to take notice and are taking pride in our team.
building days fire methodical search several
It will be a methodical search of the fire building and it may take upward of several days to complete.
becoming crisis happens national north notice race time war
In North America, what happens often is that they put race before nationhood. Everyone here is Hispanic-American, Chinese-American, African-American. But really, we're just North Americans of all these different descents. The only time I notice North Americans becoming national is when a war happens or a crisis happens.
base narrative oftentimes paintings twist
The narrative oftentimes is that everything that comes out of the hood is 'real,' and so I thought, 'I'll base it on the absurd, the not real. I'll twist the idea of real on its head and see if I can get away with it. I'll make paintings that come not from a place but through an abstract gaze.'
change depend details life looking observing
In the city, you're always looking around, observing everything. In some neighborhoods, your life can depend on it. The details change constantly.
advertising creates density sheer tense until
The sheer density of advertising creates a psychic mass, an overlay that can sometimes be very tense or aggressive. As a citizen, you have to participate in that every day. You have to walk by until it's changed.
certain funny kept noticing paper picking school trash using
The funny thing about being creative is that, especially high school people, I kept noticing I'd always go to these certain materials. I'd always be picking up trash and picking up paper and using it.
ask details inspired looking mother small supported
I've always been inspired by small details that make me wander. My mother would ask me, 'What are you looking at so intensely?' I would answer, 'Everything and nothing.' She really supported my wanderings, called me Marco Polo.
ensure happen
It's very time-consuming. We want to ensure it's done correctly. It's nothing that's going to happen overnight.
religious organisation tobacco
Tobacco and religious organisations.
became believe opened picked reason stand
When I was thirteen, I was in a supermarket with my mother, and for no reason at all, I picked up a science-fiction book at the checkout stand and started reading it. I couldn't believe I was doing that, actually reading a book. And, man, it opened up a whole new thing. Reading became the sparkplug of my imagination.
best car happen negative plates police pull run
The police pull up in back of my car and run my plates - they don't see you as you are; they see you through a racialized negative gaze. I think the best thing is not to internalize it too much, or it'll make you crazy because you know it's going to happen again.