John Bradford

JOHN BRADFORD (United States, 1949).
"David Hume reading An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals to his friends," 2017.
Acrylic on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Label of the Anna Zorina Gallery, New York, on the back.
Measurements: 122 x 152 cm; 127 x 158 cm (frame).

As the title of this unique composition reads, David Hume reads his mythical writing "Inquiry into the Principles of Morals" to a close circle of friends and relatives. The subject, however, is almost an excuse for John Bradford. The artist employs a wide range of formal techniques honed over 50 years of experience, combining scraping with palette knife, generous dabs of paint, applied with brush and fingers... the result being an almost dreamlike, yet realistic atmosphere. He plays with the ephemeral nuances of air and light.

John Bradford was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He received a BFA from Cooper Union in New York in 1971 and an MFA from Yale University School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1978: Anna Zorina Gallery, New York; Claryville Art Center, New York; Bowery Gallery, New York; and 55 Mercer Gallery, New York; among others. Bradford is the 2011 recipient of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters Painting Award. Bradford's work has been reviewed in The New York Times, New York Magazine, New Criterion, ArtNews, Village Voice, The Jewish Press and Hudson Review.Bradford lives and works in Leonia, New Jersey. Anna Zorina Gallery in New York currently has a solo exhibition of the artist's work (opening April 18, 2024).