Sikkema Jenkins Gallery
530 West 22nd Street
The exhibit "Nobody Jones" by Los Angeles artist Mark Bradford includes six mammoth size works on canvases stretching approximately 100-x-150-inches. All dated 2007, these compositions contrast swarms of irregular shapes and lines with monochromatic borders. This juxtaposition particularly conjures an ancient city seen from above in one titled
Ghost Money. Only a few passages breach its presumed wall. Another named
Boreas encloses a relaxed or rural network in what looks like a coat of aluminum weatherproofing.
Up close the winding surfaces reveal a swath of collaged, analog gatherings. Remnants of paper advertisements are recognizable however their sales pitches are mostly obscured. Intricately re-pulping these may have combined sanding and scraping. In a backroom, a warped paper stratification headlines James Brown's obituary.
