Canada

August 11th, 2020

60 Lispenard Street

P: 212 925 4631

New York, NY

With love, 

from Maine

Katherine

Bradford

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Katherine Bradford's Kitchen Table in Maine, March 2020

Canada is pleased to present 'With Love, From Maine', an online exhibition of new works on paper by Katherine Bradford. The majority of the works exhibited were created during Bradford's mandatory 14-day quarantine. With no access to her studio in Brunswick, Maine, Bradford made do with her domestic exile, creating a temporary sanctuary for creativity right at her own kitchen table. A personal lexicon of familiar motifs that Bradford has become so beloved for is featured amongst this new body of work, along with symbolic narratives, such as isolated nurses and embracing seated figures with extended laps. Jagged edges of the handmade paper and multiple layers of gouache and collage induce a tactile experience for the viewer, making these works more akin to sculptural objects rather than flat paintings on paper. 'With love, from Maine' acts as a raw time capsule of Katherine's response to the early stages of the global pandemic and a comforting gift in the wake of the spiraling uncertainty society is currently experiencing as a collective conscious.

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Katherine Bradford was born March 28th, 1942 in New York City. She began painting at the age of 30 while living in Maine and was among the vibrant and eclectic group of artists who moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in the 1980s. She exhibited in New York for many years before presenting Fear of Waves, her first solo exhibition with Canada, in 2016.

Bradford is represented by Canada, New York and has exhibited widely at institutions such as: MoMA P.S. 1; The Brooklyn Museum, NY; the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, in Bentonville, AR; the Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, NY; and at the Ogden Museum in Prospect.4: the New Orleans Biennial. Her work is included in collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Menil Collection in Houston, TX, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art in Overland Park, KS and the Portland Museum of Art, ME. Her work has been shown at commercial galleries including: Sperone Westwater and Pace Gallery in New York; Campoli Presti Gallery, London and Paris; Philipp Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin; and Adams and Ollman, Portland OR, among others. Bradford is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Joan Mitchell Grant.

She has taught at institutions such as the Yale School of Art, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. A recent monograph, Katherine Bradford: Paintings, was published by Canada in 2018. In 2022, Bradford will be the subject of a traveling retrospective organized by the Portland Museum of Art, Maine.

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Image from Katherine's studio just before her departure to Maine, March 2020

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"When we arrived in Maine from New York in early April there was still snow on the ground and a lot of mud. I used the kitchen table as my studio and set to work making works on paper."

Katherine Bradford
Purple Swimmers on an Orange Ring, 2020
Gouache, collage on paper
17 × 15 inches (43.18 × 38.10 cm)

Katherine Bradford
Early Morning Swim, 2020
Gouache on paper
14 × 11 inches (35.56 × 27.94 cm)

Katherine Bradford
Nurse, 2020
Gouache on paper
15 × 11 inches (38.10 × 27.94 cm)

Video courtesy of Katherine Bradford/Brooklyn Rail

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"Maybe that's where we want to be, mother's lap. A place of solace."

 

Katherine Bradford
Lap Sitters, 2020
Gouache, collage on paper
15 × 11 inches (38.10 × 27.94 cm)

Katherine Bradford
Dive From Yellow, 2020
Gouache on paper
14 × 11 inches (35.56 × 27.94 cm)

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"This is the barn studio I used for many years when I lived full time in Maine."

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"There was nothing growing, spring had not arrived.  It was wonderful to be able to make some brightly colored works on paper."

Katherine Bradford
White Rock Swimmers, 2020
Gouache on paper
11 × 13 inches (27.94 × 33.02 cm)

Katherine Bradford
Couple Rothko Sky, 2020
Gouache on paper
12 × 12 inches (30.48 × 30.48 cm)

Katherine Bradford
Red Pier, 2020
Gouache on paper
11 × 11 inches (27.94 × 27.94 cm)

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"... Arriving in this place with no color. Nothing growing. It was all brown."

Katherine Bradford
Superhero Gathering, 2020
Gouache, collage on paper
8 ½ × 11 inches (21.59 × 27.94 cm)

Katherine Bradford
Ladies Night Out, 2020
Gouache, collage on paper
8 ½ × 11 inches (21.59 × 27.94 cm)

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"Beautifully bleak; the earth was bare and stripped of anything."

Katherine Bradford
Stairway, 2020
Gouache, collage on paper
11 × 7 ½ inches (27.94 × 19.05 cm)

Katherine Bradford
Emanating Stripes, 2020
Gouache, collage on paper
7 × 11 inches (17.78 × 27.94 cm)

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