Crafting abstract paintings from fragments of the urban environment — permanent-wave end papers, billboard paper, posters, newsprint — Mark Bradford has built a body of work that is richly layered in both material and meaning. The MacArthur Award–winning artist's seductive works reinvigorate abstraction with social awareness: often resembling aerial views, they subtly map the patterns of class, race, gender, and sexuality that structure American life, especially life in Bradford's own South Central Los Angeles neighborhood. This re... Read more

Crafting abstract paintings from fragments of the urban environment — permanent-wave end papers, billboard paper, posters, newsprint — Mark Bradford has built a body of work that is richly layered in both material and meaning. The MacArthur Award–winning artist’s seductive works reinvigorate abstraction with social awareness: often resembling aerial views, they subtly map the patterns of class, race, gender, and sexuality that structure American life, especially life in Bradford’s own South Central Los Angeles neighborhood. This retrospective has its only West Coast showing in San Francisco, with concurrent presentations at SFMOMA and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. With more than 50 paintings, sculptures, and multimedia works, the exhibition is a comprehensive introduction to a compelling artist of our time.