OFF THE CHARTS

Mark Bradford’s latest exhibition for Hauser & Wirth Menorca maps out new artistic territories

- HUNTER DROHOJOWSK A-PHILP

Mark Bradford excavates the past through art. And the past has never felt more present than in 2020, during the global pandemic. Substantial and sumptuous, his abstract paintings have received such acclaim that, Bradford, now 59, has grown accustomed to the demands of being an international art star with a roster of museum and gallery shows. Winner of a 2009 MacArthur ‘genius’ grant and US representative to the 2017 Venice Biennale, he was elected recently to the elite American Academy of Arts and Letters. His retrospective ‘End Papers’ opened last year at Texas’ Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, as the spread of Covid-19 led to one lockdown after another. ‘A year ago,’ he recalls, ‘I was like, well, one thing I know how to do is to show up and go to work. So I’m gonna show up, I’m gonna go to work. I’m gonna work with no assistants, one assistant, a few supplies, a lot of supplies, because that was changing by the week.’

Forced by travel restrictions and common sense to stay home in Los Angeles, he passed time and explored history by looking at the 1507 Waldseemüller map of the world. Visitors to his Compton studio have been scarce and he is eager to talk about it. Dressed in white sweatshirt and trousers, he has the grace of a very tall dancer as he lopes over to give me an air-hug. Bending himself into a folding chair at a card table, Bradford explains his latest inspiration: ‘I’ve always been fascinated by ancient maps. They become maps of the imagination because obviously maps continually change with wars, with land redistributions, with ecology.’