The Mark Bradford Project

More. More. And More.

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 10:05:06 -0400

Recently, I heard economics prof. Dr. Hans Christoph Binswanger, who specializes in growth dynamism, mention that when God made the world, on the sixth day he declared that what he had produced was good, and therefore rested, and did not go back to make readjustments. “Not us,” said Binswanger, “we wake up each Monday and start all over.”

I would argue that this insatiable need to make more, do more, create more, may come from a misalignment, a misunderstanding of what people really want and need. Perhaps the silver lining in the housing crash and resulting economic downturn is a more value-oriented focus and revisiting of Mies van der Rohe’s dictum “less is more” or rather Buckmister Fuller’s “do more with less.”

But something about Mark Bradford makes people and institutions want to dream big. The Mark Bradford Project first began at the MCA by introducing Mark to the staff. However, he immediately switched it around and started asking the staff who they were and what they did. Then he asked them, since it was a community residency, how working at the MCA, their skills, and their resources could help the community? If you really want to build a community, it’s not enough to just do your job. You need to do more. Our Mark Bradford Project Team worked on every aspect of the exhibition and project through this lens, breaking down departmental silos internally, and externally connecting Mark to communally engaged artists, teachers, and community leaders. Building bridges, laying infrastructure, we thought we did it all and more.

At the same time, Mark pushed the young artists at Lindblom High School and YOUMedia, to go bigger in concept, scale, and ambition. However before he did this, he first looked at each of their works, listening to each explain what it meant, and what it expressed. Only then did he push them to spend more time with their ideas, to stretch their goals, to dream big, and to increase their scale and ambition. Then Mark approached the MCA and knowing we could also go bigger, he prodded us saying that now that he had pushed the students, we needed to show their work in an exhibition.

This wasn’t easy. More seems to be easy when you are in charge of what is more. Now we had to find a gallery - in this case a Chicago Loop Alliance Pop-Up gallery in the center of the city - and then do everything that we were already doing at the MCA for Mark’s show, but twice. And of course, everything had a twist because it was offsite. Our van was towed, we had to rent a special 20-foot ladder, enlist Lindblom volunteers to help paint the 20-foot space, which took until 2 am, and then our lease was almost cancelled. But when the work was installed and the students and parents and community that we had connected with during The Mark Bradford Project came to the opening, the magic, the people, the connections that the Project had developed were tangible, visible, and the students’ work rivaled anything coming out of Chicago’s art programs. That extra bit - the more - could be felt in the gallery with people from all walks of life connecting through art.

For Prospect.1, an exhibition of artwork installed throughout New Orleans in 2008 to bring tourism to the city after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Mark knew he wanted to make a work in the Lower Ninth Ward. The area, ravaged by the hurricane, seemed to be in the most need of tourist money, yet no other works were being presented there. Like at the beginning of his Project at the MCA, Mark began by asking the people living in the Lower Ninth Ward what they needed. Instead of help they said they needed money so partnering with the Lower Ninth Ward Village, the Make It Right Foundation, and the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, he donated a painting to L9 art center, and auctioned a work to provide them with $60,000 of funding using what he called “career capital” which is exactly what he had asked the MCA and its staff to do.

In the economic downturn, we are all asked to do more with less, but we shouldn’t forget that we all have “career capital” that when connected with others, can bring more to our communities and our lives. What more can you be doing with your career capital?

— Tricia Van Eck, Coordinator of the Mark Bradford exhibition at the MCA, and Artistic Director of 6018 NORTH and The Happiness Project.

Photos (top to bottom): Tricia Van Eck visits Lindblom Math & Science Academy, March 11, 2011; photo by Mia Wicklund. Opening Reception for (Re)Connect, Pop-Up Gallery, Chicago, Part of The Mark Bradford Project, May 25, 2011; photo by Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago. Tricia Van Eck with Mark Bradford; photography © Museum of Contemporary Art,  Chicago; photo by Jacob Boll.

The Creative Agency explores Bradford TCAatMCA: “On our...

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 17:52:00 -0400

~~The Creative Agency explores Bradford~~

TCAatMCA:

“On our first day together we explored the exhibition Mark Bradford. While looking at Mark’s work, the topic of titles was raised. Together we questioned the ways that labels might contribute to our interpretation of Mark’s work.”

Chicago Works on Mark Bradford Closing soon: The Mark Bradford...

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:11:00 -0400

~~Chicago Works on Mark Bradford~~

Closing soon: The Mark Bradford exhibition closes Sunday, September 18!

Images from Opening Night (Top to bottom, left to right)...

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 16:35:00 -0400

~~Images from Opening Night~~

(Top to bottom, left to right) Adrienne Samuels Gibbs and Naomi Beckwith. Barabara Ruben. Dave Pabellon and Meaghan Burritt. Mark Bradford and Madeleine Grynsztejn. Michelle Boone, Sara Albrecht, and Lisa Key. Mark Bradford and Tina Williams. Nora Daley with Michael Darling. Teshear Hull, Ava Hurdlik, and Doris Davis. Raymond Abercrombie. Inez Saunders, Barabara Ruben, Tricia Van Eck, and Kay Moody.

All images: Mark Bradford Exhibition Opening; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; May 26, 2011. Photos by Jeremy Lawson, © MCA Chicago.

"I run a studio, not a classroom."

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:01:17 -0400

“I run a studio, not a classroom.”

- — Nathan Diamond, Fine Arts Department Chair at Lindblom Math and Science Academy, on his approach to fostering his students’ artistic practice

Recent Press for Mark Bradford

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:23:09 -0400

Dateline Australia’s video segment, “LA Laid Bare,” about Mark, the exhibition, and the residency project.

Laura Pearson’s review for Time Out Chicago.

“Urban Re-Planning,” by Laura Fox, in Newcity.

Ebony Magazine’s “The Mark Bradford Project Connects Artist + MCA + Community.”

Paul Klein’s Art Letter review, which also ran on Huffington Post.

A feature on the exhibition and the residency in The Art Newspaper.

WBEZ’s interview with new MCA Curator Naomi Beckwith includes a conversation about Mark’s work.

Time Out Chicago’s Summer Preview and Q&A with Mark, both by Lauren Weinberg.

W. Keith Brown’s review in Chicago Art Magazine.

Laurie Apple’s coverage in the Chicago Reader.

“A Truly Rich Man,” by KP Dawes, in Arte Y Vida Chicago.

Monica Westin’s “Editor Pick” in Flavorpill.

The Kansas City Star art critic Alice Thorson’s “…art shows that are worth a road trip.”

Inclusion in Time Magazine’s Summer Entertainment Preview.

Image: from Chicago Art Magazine.

Dawoud Bey: Reshaping The Art/Museum/Public Experience

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 08:22:38 -0400

Dawoud Bey: Reshaping The Art/Museum/Public Experience:

Chicago-based artist Dawoud Bey’s latest blog post features his take on The Mark Bradford Project.

Photo courtesy Dawoud Bey.

Making Things More Complicated

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:44:00 -0400

My practice is décollage and collage at the same time. Décollage, I take it away; collage, I immediately add it right back. It’s almost like a rhythm. I’m a builder and a demolisher. I put up so I can tear down. I’m a speculator and a developer. In archaeological terms, I excavate and I build at the same time.
— Mark Bradford, Art21 interview, “Politics, Process & Postmodernism”

When Jacques Derrida died in 2004, I was studying his work in a visual culture class at NYU. His obituary in the New York Times treated deconstruction like a nerdy revenge: nobody can understand deconstruction. My professor at the time pointed out that, at the least, we should try.

When I’m working with students and teachers in museum education, I’m often looking for theoretical sparks as ground where conversations around artworks can sprout. More specific than ‘analysis’ or ‘unpacking,’ deconstruction points to the paradox of simultaneous destruction and construction. Something new can emerge only when space is created for it by undoing other systems, an unraveling process Derrida sometimes described as de-sedimentation. Pulling in ideas from deconstruction can be useful in developing a close read for looking at objects, a way of looking that keeps us from trying to pin down a single interpretation for an artwork.

Some artworks are particularly fruitful for engaging in this process. Mark Bradford frames his work in this language of breaking down and building up—“décollage and collage at the same time.” In Bradford’s studio practice, there is a real physical enactment of the deconstruction of a text, where the text is his own social and physical environment: he pulls objects out from their contexts, leaves gaps, pulls them together into a new format, erases certain patterns, and constructs new ones. De-sedimentation and sedimentation. Décollage and collage.

Bradford’s approach opens up some new ground for our work with educators in the MCA’s Teacher Institute this year. What new spaces emerge when we are willing to apply this process to our work as makers, thinkers, and teachers? How can we engage with Bradford’s process, not only visually, but as a mode of social engagement? Are we willing to complicate, rather than more smoothly define, our use of dialogue as educators and artists?

This is what I’m working on right now: looking at Bradford’s work and words and considering their relevance to creative educators. His approach is complex, embedded in his rich personality, and approaches social hierarchies in a way that sparks new questions when translated to teaching. These questions aren’t easy to answer. At the least, we should try.

— Annie Heckman, teaching artist and MCA artist guide. Bradford’s work is the focus of this year’s High School Teacher Institute, Break Down/Build Up: Change through Dialogue in Teaching and Making, and will be featured alongside Joseph Cornell’s work in the Elementary Teacher Institute, Everything Talks to Everything Else: Joseph Cornell Unlocks New Modes of Dialogue.

Photo: Mark Bradford: Potable Water, 2005. Billboard paper, photomechanical reproductions, acrylic gel medium, and additional mixed media; 130 x 196 inches (330.2 x 497.8 cm). Collection of Hunter Gray. Photo: Bruce M. White.

“He just wants to do art with us … We’re art...

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 14:01:00 -0400

~~“He just wants to do art with us … We’re art kids.”~~

For the past six months, the MCA’s video production team has been working hard to document The Mark Bradford Project. We have interviewed dozens of people involved in the project and made trips all over the city, and even to LA, to capture footage of the project in progress. Our goal was to put together a video, to be played at Mark’s exhibition opening, that told the story of the important work that had already taken place during the residency. Enjoy!

Student exhibition closes tonight! (Re)Connect May 26 - June 2,...

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:01:00 -0400

~~Student exhibition closes tonight!~~

(Re)Connect
May 26 - June 2, 11:30 am - 5:30 pm
at Pop-Up Art Loop Gallery, 205 S State Street
Free and open to the public!

(Re)Connect features artwork created by 15 students from Lindblom Math and Science Academy, a Chicago Public School, and six teenagers from YOUmedia, a drop-in digital and media program at the Harold Washington Library. The exhibition includes photographs, paintings, sculptures, installations, and works in a variety of digital media, including sound and video. Inspired by Mark Bradford’s work and his practice, students at Lindblom responded to the related themes of journeys and mapping. Students at YOUmedia responded to specific works by Bradford, reinventing and remixing to create their own artworks.

Photos: Opening reception for (Re)Connect, at Pop-Up Gallery, Chicago, May 25, 2011. Part of The Mark Bradford Project. Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago.

"Art is not something outside of their experiences. It lives right there with them."

Tue, 31 May 2011 13:20:00 -0400

“Art is not something outside of their experiences. It lives right there with them.”

- — Mark Bradford, about the youth artists from Lindblom and YOUmedia, whose work is currently on display in (Re)Connect, an exhibition at a Pop-Up Art Loop Gallery, 205 S. State Street, Chicago.

Vocalo Features: The Mark Bradford Project

Fri, 27 May 2011 14:37:00 -0400

As a community partner for The Mark Bradford Project, WBEZ’s Vocalo is remixing media content to produce three chapters about the project. Focusing on Bradford’s own experience with arts education, and including an interview with youth artist, and Lindblom senior, Renee Alvarez, the first chapter airs tomorrow at 3 pm on 89.5 FM. Hear it now at http://vocalo.org/tmbp.

Our thanks to Sarah Lu!

Photo: Mark Bradford admiring Renee Alvarez’s College Dress. Photo by Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago.

Exhibition Opening Tonight! “Skinny Jeans” is a...

Thu, 26 May 2011 15:03:00 -0400

~~Exhibition Opening Tonight!~~

“Skinny Jeans” is a track Mark created for his multimedia installation, Pinocchio Is On Fire. The song expresses Mark’s interest in relationships between clothing and identity in pop culture. (May contain strong language.)

Above photos: MCA preparators installing part of Pinocchio Is On Fire on the front wall of the atrium. Text is created by peeling away layers of white paint from drawings of previous artists’ projects. Over the past 15 years, the front wall has been the site of wall drawings by many artists, including Sol LeWitt, Franz Ackermann, and Damien Hirst.

Join us for the Mark Bradford exhibition opening tonight, 6:30-9 pm. Tickets are $20, and free for MCA members.

Photos: Mia Wicklund © MCA Chicago

Student exhibition opening tonight! Join us for the opening of...

Wed, 25 May 2011 13:24:00 -0400

Youth artists installing for (Re)Connect

Youth artists installing for (Re)Connect

Youth artists installing for (Re)Connect

Youth artists installing for (Re)Connect

Youth artists installing for (Re)Connect

Youth artists installing for (Re)Connect

Youth artists installing for (Re)Connect

Youth artists installing for (Re)Connect

Youth artists installing for (Re)Connect

~~Student exhibition opening tonight!~~

Join us for the opening of (Re)Connect at Pop-Up Art Loop Gallery, 205 S State Street, from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. Free and open to the public!

(Re)Connect
May 26 - June 2, 11:30 am - 5:30 pm
Closed Sundays and Memorial Day

Photos: Nathan Keay © MCA Chicago

"The youth have moved from production to presentation, conversing with Mark to explore installation..."

Tue, 24 May 2011 17:38:00 -0400

“The youth have moved from production to presentation, conversing with Mark to explore installation ideas.”

- — Elena Goetz, MCA Coordinator of Youth and Family Programs, about preparing for the student exhibition, (Re)Connect

From production to presentation

Tue, 24 May 2011 15:06:05 -0400

YOUmedia encourages critique, conversation, and collaboration. Each time I walk into the space, I see teens gathered in groups chatting together, playing Rock Band as “band mates,” listening to someone’s new audio track, sharing out poetry with mentors. Within all these shared experiences, the youth are listening to each other’s ideas, contributing their own, appreciating differences, and propelling themselves to better understand their own ideas. As part of The Mark Bradford Project, the option of who you could critique, converse, or collaborate with has included some additional faces, including Mark Bradford.

Now, with the culminating exhibition of this work, (Re)Connect, set to open next week, the youth have moved from production to presentation, spending time thinking about how their artworks exist in an exhibition space. Recently, the teens visited the MCA and Skyped with Mark to explore installation ideas. They are hungry for suggestions and information, and seem energized by the various ways that artists choose to display work. They are revising their work and thinking about the experience of the viewer. The youth process this new mode of thinking with great openness and excitement. It is so beneficial, maybe even critical, to have an encouraging environment of critique, conversation, and collaboration already in place, which YOUmedia provides. As I see it, this allows for risk-taking to take place and thus meaningful processes and experience to occur. That’s what I like to call, The Mark Bradford Project.

Check out a slideshow of a recent “Mark Bradford Monday” when youth came to the MCA to explore the exhibition Without You I’m Nothing: Art and Its Audience and spent time talking about their artwork for (Re)Connect with curator Tricia Van Eck.

— Elena Goetz, MCA Coordinator of Youth and Family Programs; Images of (Re)Connect installation at Pop-Up Art Loop Gallery, 205 S. State Street, Chicago, IL; Photo: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago

Design for Bradford

Mon, 23 May 2011 11:54:00 -0400

As graphic designers at the MCA, we look to the artist and the artwork for direction when we create a graphic identity — or visual “look” — for an exhibition. The ideas and forms used in the work inform our decisions about choosing a typeface, colors, size, etc. We walk a fine line between complementing and elevating the artwork, and overstepping and distracting from the work. Our goal is to communicate the feeling of what a show is about in the clearest and quickest way possible.

The form that the “identity” takes ranges from large-scale wall exhibition graphics, marketing materials (print ads, bus shelters, billboards, banners), and web graphics, to printed matter such as books, gallery guides, and more. Everything we create must work together as a family and feel part of a whole.   For the Mark Bradford exhibition and The Mark Bradford Project, we got our inspiration from the merchant posters that Mark uses in his paintings. We were inspired by the simplicity and immediacy of the messages, and how the sum total of the posters tells the story of a community. In the same way, we worked with the idea of combining multiple elements to tell the story of Mark’s exhibition and his residency activities with Lindblom and YOUmedia.

In a somewhat unconventional fashion, we chose to feature a portrait of the artist in the promotional materials. For us it felt right, as Mark’s presence has been as integral to the overall project as his paintings. We chose a very tall, bold font, bright colors, and large type for high impact and clear communication. These posters will be wheat-pasted around the city, communicating in a similar fashion as the merchant posters Mark uses in his work.

The Mark Bradford Opening

Thu, 19 May 2011 17:14:19 -0400

As an MCA staff member in Membership, one of the best parts of my job is getting the chance to meet and interact with artists as their opening events are planned. Every Members’ Opening is born out of the Development office, and keeping the artist and our members of all levels in mind, we try to create an event that will fully reflect the artists’ work and personality. With Mark Bradford, this experience was particularly fun, and Mark’s infectious inspiration helped fuel our creativity as we started to develop his opening activity months in advance.

Mark began his relationship with MCA staff members by hosting a discussion where he presented his thoughts, passions, and opinions about art and community. While Mark Bradford’s creative residency was still taking shape, he talked about the importance of community and how it influences his art. In planning for the opening he challenged us to reach out to our community in new ways with a specific emphasis on being all-inclusive, to inspire new audiences throughout Chicago. With his ideas in mind, we went to work planning the Mark Bradford Opening with a public component as our centerpiece.

The MCA prides itself on being an active community organization, so we are more than excited to welcome the community to this event by offering a paid ticket option. To highlight the importance of Mark’s interaction with the Chicago community, we have invited the students and teens involved in The Mark Bradford Project, from Lindblom Math and Science Academy and Digital Youth Network’s YOUmedia program at the Harold Washington Library, and their families.

With all this considered, we are very pleased to invite you to the Mark Bradford Opening on May 26 from 6:30 to 9 pm. Member tickets are free, and public tickets are $20. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres from Wolfgang Puck, a cash juice and alcohol bar, and fresh beats from DJ Kid Color. And don’t miss an engaging discussion in the MCA Theater at 7 pm.

In this discussion, you can learn more about the artist behind this exhibition. Kym Pinder, associate professor and chair of the Department of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute, facilitates a conversation with Mark, Erika Hanner, Director of Education at the MCA, and students from Lindblom and YOUmedia. Gain behind-the-scenes insight into The Mark Bradford Project, hear the voices of key participants from the Project speak about their interactions with Mark, and understand Mark’s passion for connecting students to art in various communities. I look forward to seeing you at the Mark Bradford Opening for this incredible show and to celebrate art in Chicago!

— Jen Rhodes, MCA Membership Assistant; Images (top to bottom): Mark speaks to MCA staff, photo by Erica Sanko; Mark helping out in the office, photo by Mia Wicklund. © MCA Chicago

Pinocchio Is On Fire Preparators working on Mark...

Wed, 18 May 2011 17:16:00 -0400

~~Pinocchio Is On Fire~~

Preparators working on Mark Bradford’s multimedia installation, Pinocchio Is On Fire, in the MCA atrium this week.

Mark Bradford’s Pinocchio Is On Fire, 2010. Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York. Photos: Mia Wicklund, © MCA Chicago

the importance of the arts in communities and schools

Tue, 17 May 2011 16:50:59 -0400

Mitch Anderson, Co-Chair of the Artists in Residence Ministry at Trinity, shares his perspective and pinpoints why art matters.

This spring at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago has been a busy time in the visual arts. In addition to our 11th Annual Art Exhibit, we’re exhibiting Black Comics, as well as a memorial exhibit to arts pioneer Margaret Burroughs, and culminating with a visit from Mark Bradford on May 22, a world-renowned visual artist. Mark has chosen Trinity (from any on the globe!) as the church home to whom he’s bringing his message of art and community!!

But as you may have noticed, these activities stand in stark contrast to what we see in our country today; political partisanship has fueled attitudes ranging from apathy, to outright hostility towards the funding and valuation of art programs across the country.

Compelling research demonstrates participation in arts programs help children read and write better, be more focused in class, raise test scores, develop higher self-esteem, and solve problems more creatively. Art programs involve communication, interpretation and understanding of complex symbols similar to mathematics and foreign languages. Learning these skills helps to develop high order analytical skills as well as skills of evaluation and synthesis. Many art programs make the child regularly use different skills in turn making them very dynamic and versatile. This helps children form positive attitudes about themselves and others while building self-esteem.

So what can we do? Despite the art-challenged atmosphere in which we find ourselves, there are many ways to fight back! There are numerous ways you can experience the arts. For example, taking a young person (and an open mind!) to the nearest art gallery or museum—Mark Bradford’s opening at the MCA on May 26 would be a great start!

Blessings,
Mitch Anderson

Mitch Anderson’s artwork include illustrations used in magazines and publications, as well as gallery pieces focused on the human form. His exhibitions include the South Side Community Art Center auction, and the Black Creativity exhibit, on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. Photos (top to bottom): Mitch leads a recent youth workshop ”Drawing Superhero & Funny Comics”; youth Summer Project, a mural commemorating Trinity’s dedication of it’s “George Washington Carver” garden and Farmer’s Market; Mitch with young workshop participants. All photos provided courtesy of Trinity United’s Artists in Residence.