William Bradley

William Bradley graduated with a Masters degree from Wimbledon College of the
University of the Arts London in 2008, selling out his end of year show. He has since
been selected for FutureMap 08 and the Catlin Art prize 2009 and 2011. His work is
included in several major collections.

Bradley’s work is both abstract art and about abstract art. Viewing the idea of the
pure abstract language as problematised by its lack of communication from artist to
viewer, Bradley builds in a more communal language of references or quotes from
abstract art history, from Abstract Expressionism and artists such as John Hoyland,
Sandra Blow and Eduardo Chillida. William Bradley’s paintings distort art historical
references deconstructing the role of abstraction in both modernism and
contemporary art practice. Bradley defies previous notions of abstract art history by
recycling past formulas from Abstract Expressionist artists such as Rothko, de
Kooning and Motherwell. As curator Vincent Honoré claims ‘William Bradley is a
perverse Abstract Expressionist’.

The work looks at the painted depiction of painted codes, combining this with a
sculptural element, as a means of exploring what abstract painting can be. Born from
a design process utilising collage to develop composition into three dimensional form;
the resultant painting deploys the experiential effect of gesture and colour,
interplaying with shadows cast, to imbue the work with emotional content.