Beschreibung:

Joe Bradley Egyptian Freek signed, dated and titled 'Joe Bradley 2010 "Egyptian Freek"' on the overlap oil on canvas 220 x 280 cm (86 5/8 x 110 1/4 in.) Painted in 2010.
Provenance Peres Projects, Berlin Acquired from the above by the present owner Exhibited Berlin, Peres Projects, Joe Bradley Freeks, 8 October - 6 November 2010 Catalogue Essay Joe Bradley's works have moved through a variety of styles, from his bright monochromatic pieces, a series of simultaneously abstract and figurative works that challenged the canonical definition of painting itself, to his bold 'one-shot' doodles in the Schmagoo Paintings, direct in their conceptual derivation and a celebration of the artist’s immersion in popular culture. 'I always like being surprised and sort of caught off guard by other people’s work. So it doesn’t cause me any anxiety to explore different avenues', Bradley explained in an interview (Joe Bradley in conversation with Laura Hoptman, Interview Magazine, March 29, 2013). In Egyptian Freek from 2010, Bradley explores the timeless human form as a vessel to delve into the history of painting and its nature as a medium: 'With painting, I always get the impression that you're sort of entering into a shared space. There's everyone who's painted in the past, and everyone who is painting in the present.' (Ibid.) The present lot depicts a black silhouetted figure in sharp contrast to the pale background 'in kind of ridiculous Egyptian-style poses', as the artist himself explains in an interview (Joe Bradley in conversation with Yasha Wallin, Art in America, January 5, 2011). Bradley draws on the connection between this work and Egyptian art, and cave paintings, to emphasise the evolution of painting as slower than the rest of the world, and to start a discussion with his predecessors: ‘You can be in conversation with those men and women in the caves – it’s like yesterday, you know? I think that time moves slower in painting.' (Joe Bradley Interview Magazine, March 29, 2013). Read More