Katherine Bradford was born in New York, 1942. she lives and works in New York.
Bradford’s mesmerizing yet rigorous visual language freely traverses the relationship between nonobjective and representational painting, allowing potential narratives to unfold and interweave with the investigation of form and color. Vast expanses of color divide her canvases into distinct horizontal planes while the variations in saturation and tone evoke an elusive yet almost palpable atmosphere. Lighter and darker hues are interchangeable and used without functional or hierarchical distinction, introducing spatial elements such as the sea and the sky, beaches and poolsides. These monochromatic backgrounds are occupied by human figures, often swimmers and bathers, whose androgynous, featureless bodies are roughly sketched. Driven by an unbiased curiosity, the artist allows her imagery to acquire a porous malleability where a pictorial sign becomes a signifier. Bradford’s practice has honed over four decades, maturing into a nonacademic, creative freedom that resonates deeply with the aesthetical and socio-political concerns of our time. It is her commitment to dynamic change and to the fluid state of human togetherness that Bradford so poignantly expresses in her radiant liquid fields.
Katherine bradford’s work has been exhibited internationally at frye art museum, seattle (2023); portland museum of art, portland (2022); Hall Art Foundation, Reading (2021); Carpenter Center for Visual Art, Cambridge (2021); Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, New York (2020); Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville (2019); The Brooklyn Museum, New York; Ogden Museum of Southern Art, new orleans (2017-18); Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth (2017); MoMA ps1, new york (2007); among others.
bradford’s work is held in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Brooklyn Museum, New York; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; The Menil Collection, Houston; institute of contemporary art, boston; and the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, among others.
Katherine bradford was Born in New York (1942). she Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
upcoming solo exhibitions
2024
american odyssey, HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, Graz
selected solo exhibitions
2023
Flying Woman: The Paintings of Katherine Bradford, Frye Art Museum, Seattle
2022
Flying Woman: The Paintings of Katherine Bradford, Portland Museum of Art, Portland
Shell Seekers, Canada East Hampton, East Hampton
Katherine Bradford “Night Swimmers”, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo
2021
Lifeguards, kaufmann repetto, Milan
Philosophers’ Clambake, Hall Art Foundation, Reading
2020
Mother Joins the Circus, Adams and Ollman, Portland
With love, from Maine, Canada, New York
2019
Stripes and Legs, Campoli Presti, London
Artists, Cops and Circus People, Campoli Presti, Paris
2018
Superman Returns With Swimmers, Galerie Haverkampf, Berlin
Friends and Strangers, Canada, New York
Magenta Nights, Adams and Ollman, Portland
Being like Water, with Jen DeNike, Anat Egbi, Los Angeles
2017
Superman Responds, Galerie Haverkampf, Berlin
Focus: Katherine Bradford, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth
Katherine Bradford, Galleria Monica De Cardenas, Milan
Sperone Westwater, New York
2016
Fear of Waves, Canada, New York
Divers and Dreamers, Adams and Ollman, Portland
2015
Fred Giampietro Gallery, New Haven
Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland
2014
Adams and Ollman, Portland
Arts & Leisure, New York
Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
2013
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick
Steven Harvey Fine Art, New York
2012
Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
John Davis Gallery, Hudson
2011
Aucocisco Galleries, Portland
2010
John Davis Gallery, Hudson
Samson Projects, Boston
2008
University of Maine Museum, Bangor
Rebecca Ibel Gallery, Columbus
2007
Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
2005
Sarah Bowen Gallery, Brooklyn
2004
ICON Contemporary Art, Brunswick
2002
Canaday Gallery, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr
1996
Katherine Bradford and Mark Wethli, Farnsworth Museum, Rockland
1994
David Beitzel Gallery, New York
1993
Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston
1992
Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago
1991
Victoria Munroe Gallery, New York
Ohio State University, Columbus
selected group exhibitions
2023
Art Unlimited, Art Basel, Basel
Farnsworth at 75: New Voices, Farnsworth Museum, Rockland
I have done it again./One year in every ten/ I manage it–, Adams and Ollman, New York
Death of the Outsider, Shrine Gallery, Los Angeles
Friends & Family, Anton Kern Gallery, New York
Come A Little Closer, DC Moore Gallery, New York
2022
I’m stepping high, I’m drifting, and there I go leaping, Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao City
For the People of Paris, Campoli Presti Gallery, Paris
Singing in Unison, Industry City, New York
Angels to Some, Demons to Others, Matthew Brown Gallery, Los Angeles
At First Light: Two Centuries of Artists in Maine, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick
And So Did Pleasure Take the Hand of Sorrow and They Wandered Through the Land of Joy, Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston
2021
Diedrick Brackens and Katherine Bradford, Carpenter Art Center for Visual Art, Cambridge
Different Strokes, Almine Rech Gallery, London
Float, Fly, Transcend, Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile
Friend Zone, Half Gallery, New York
Sleep, Haverkampf Gallery, Berlin
Dear John, Adams and Ollman, Portland
Reflections: Human Nature, Gana Art, Seoul
A wild note of longing: Albert Pinkham Ryder and a Century of American Art, New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford
Potent, Harper’s, East Hampton
2020
Never Done, 100 Years of Women in Politics and Beyond, Tang Museum at
Skidmore, Saratoga Springs
A Zigzag Over Essence, Winter Street Gallery, Edgartown
It’s All About Water, The Storefront, Bellport
Six Hot and Glassy, Tripoli Gallery, Wainscott
Surf Show, Tripoli Gallery, Wainscott
A Show of Hands, SEPTEMBER Gallery, Hudson
Painting the Essential, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London
Gallery Swap, with Philipp Haverkampf, Alice Folkler Gallery, Amsterdam
Dog Days: Ryan McGinley, Katherine Bradford, Jack Pierson, Launch F18, New York
2019
Katherine Bradford, Hulda Guzman, Rebecca Ness, Alexander Berggruen Gallery, New York
WHAT HAVE WE DONE? 15th Annual Thanksgiving Collective, Tripoli Gallery, East Hampton
GARDEN, Shrine Gallery, New York
Men of Steel Women of Wonder, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover
Canada b/w Drag City, Soccer Club Club, Chicago
Occupy Colby, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville Maine
Away in the Hill, GRIMM, New York
Condo New York with Adams and Ollman, Katherine Bradford, Vaginal Davis and
Geoffrey Mitchell, JTT Gallery NYC
Art Purposes, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick
Downward Flower, Fourteen 30, Portland
Dance With Me, Zurcher Gallery, New York
Nurikabe, Tetsuo’s Garage, Nikko Japan
Heat Wave, Philipps Auction, London
Downtown Painting, Presented by Alex Katz, Peter Freeman, New York
Go Figure!, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton
Big Ringer, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
Manifest Content, Campoli Presti, London
Girl Meets Girl: Rose Wylie, Katherine Bernhardt, Katherine Bradford,
Caroline Chandler, Choi Jager Gallery, Cologne
Note Book, 56 Henry, New York
The World According To, Pace Gallery, New York
Men of Steel, Women of Wonder, Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville
Pulse, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City
I Don’t Believe in Art I Believe in Artists, LX Gallery, New York
Brooklyn Rail, Collateral Event at Venice Biennale
2018
Tell Him What We Said…, One Mile Gallery, Kingston
Reinventing the Figure, Monica De Cardenas, Zuoz
Redefining the Sublime, The Hall Foundation at Gray Art Gallery, New York
The Solace of Amnesia, The Hall Foundation, Reading
A Time Before We Were Born: Visions of Arcadia, Po Kim Gallery, New York
Works on Paper, George Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
Paradise, Night Gallery, Los Angeles
Dancing Godesses, Dio Horia, Mykonos
Intimacy, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York
Aporia, David & Schweitzer Gallery, Brooklyn
Adolescent Rebellion, One Mile Gallery, Kingston
Summer of Love, Freight and Volume, New York
Works on Paper, George Gallery, Brooklyn
2017
Queering Space, Yale Univerity Gallery, New Haven
Witches and Dudes, Galleri Kant, Copenhagen
From Out Under, Los Angeles
Say Yes, Wayne State University, Detroit
Get Out of That Space Ship and Act Like a Man, Franklin Parrasch, New York
Heartbreak Hotel, Invisible Exports, New York
Able Baker, Nostalgisms, Portland
My Kid Could Do That, ProjectArt, New York
Drawing Island, The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn
Pictograms, Sperone Westwater, New York
Spring Break, New York
Hors D’Oeuvres, Half Gallery Pop Up, New York
Tripoli Gallery summer show, Long Island
Hecate, Various Small Fires, Los Angeles
The First Ever & Only East Hampton Biennial, The Barn, East Hampton
We might not have a planet left soon, 68 Projects, Berlin
Prospect 4, New Orleans U.S. Biennial, New Orleans
The Science, Culture, & Art of Superheroes, Everhart Museum, Scranton
Awkward, Anna Zorina Gallery, New York
A New Subjectivity, Pratt Galeries, New York
2016
Fort Greene, Venus Over LA, Los Angeles
AUGUST, Harper’s Books, East Hampton
The Great Figure Two, The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn
Shout For Tomorrow, Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York
The Female Gaze Part Two : Women Look at Men, Cheim & Read, New York
Make Painting Great Again, CANADA, New York
Imagine, Brand New Gallery, Milan
Landscapes After Ruskin: Redefining the Sublime, Hall Art Foundation, Reading
MOTHER POPCORN, Big Medium, Austin
Victory Garden, Planthouse Gallery, New York
Representing Rainbows, Gerald Peters Gallery, New York
Onion By the Ocean, Underdonk Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
New York, New Painters, Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago
Flowers in Your Hair, fuse space, San Francisco
2015
Intimacy in Discourse, SVA Galleries, New York
Contemporary Responses to Marsden Hartley, Driscoll Babcock Gallery, New York
AWKWARD: 3 Person Show, Kers Gallery, Amsterdam
The Guston Influence, Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston
Back to the Future, Artists Originating out of the Williamsburg scene in
the 80’s, Life on Mars Gallery, Brooklyn
20” x 16”, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York
New Narratives, Storefront Ten Eyck Gallery, Brooklyn
2014
Brooklyn Bridge, George Lawson Gallery, San Francisco
The Meaning of Life, Geoff Young Gallery, Great Barrington
Paper Variables, Gallery at Dieu Donne, New York
Leaves, Steven Harvey Fine Arts, New York
Outside In, Life on Mars Gallery, Brooklyn
Chuck Webster, Katherine Bradford, Martin Mazorra, Planthouse Gallery, New York
The Age of Small Things, Dodge Gallery, New York
Between Matter and Experience, University of the Arts, Philadelphia
Pierogi 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn
My Big Fat Painting, Brian Morris Gallery, New York
2013
Come Together: Surviving Sandy, Industry City, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Hope Despite the Times, Zieher Smith Gallery, New York
Painting Impossible, Life on Mars Gallery, Brooklyn
Collection, Vox Populi, Philadelphia
“Dirigo” Maine Women Pioneers, University of Maine Museum, Westbrook
The Triumph of Human Painting, Bull & Ram, Brooklyn
2012
Sky, Sea, Land, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover
Special Blend, JOURNAL Gallery, Brooklyn
CMCA Honors Award Exhibition, Rockport
4 Guggenheim Fellows, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn
2011
21 American Painters, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo
Samson Projects, Boston
American Academy of Arts and Letters Invitational, New York
Narcissus in the Studio, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Idiots Delight, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn
2010
Ab/Fig., William Shearburn Gallery, St. Louis
Story, Islip Museum of Art, Islip
Talk Show, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
Sacred and Profane, Portsmouth Museum, New York
2009
Put in on Paper, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
Chunky Monkey, Red Flagg Gallery, New York
Kleinert/James Arts Center, Woodstock, New York
2008
Ambivalent Figuration, Samson Projects, Boston
Worth A Thousand Words, Brattleboro Museum, Brattleboro
It’s Gouache, Jeff Bailey Gallery, New York
Shape Shifters: New York Painters, University of North Carolina, Pembroke
2007
Orpheus Selection, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City
Sea Worthy, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
2006
Everywhichway, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York
Sized Up: LargeScale
Paintings, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton
Searching for Love and Fire, David Castillo Gallery, Miami
2005
Invitational and Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, American Academy of
Art and Letters, New York
New York’s Finest, CANADA, New York
The Collections Gallery, Bates College Museum, Lewiston
Norman B. Marin Collection, The University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor
Portland Museum Biennial, Portland Museum, Portland
2004
Home, D.U.M.B.O. Arts Center, Brooklyn
Surrealist Drawings, Exquisite Corpses Today, Bowdoin College Art Museum, Brunswick
2003
The Lightness of Being, Black & White Gallery, New York
Water, Water, Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn
2002
Project Room, Bill Maynes Gallery, New York
In the Spirit of Landscape, Neilson Gallery, Boston
Past Present Future, CMCA, Rockport
2001
Hidden Identity, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York
Wet!, Luise Ross Gallery, New York
Domestic Culture, Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art, portland
Made in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Rail Gallery, Brooklyn
2000
The Figure: Another Side of Modernism, Newhouse Center for Contemporary
Art, Snug Harbor, Staten Island
1999
Group Show, Rebecca lbel Gallery, Columbus
Invitational, Tig Fill Gallery, Cork
1998
New York Drawers, Gasworks Gallery, London
Pierogi Press, Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York
Ten from Brooklyn, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville
1997
Current Undercurrent, Working in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Modern Prints, Colby College Museum of Art, Colby College, Waterville
public collections
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover
Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland
Rollins Museum of Art, Winter Park
Hall Collection, Reading
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
The Menil Collection, Houston
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Rubell Collection, Miami
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton
Tang Teaching Museum & Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester
awards
2021
rappaport prize
2020
Farnsworth Art Museum
2012
Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant
2011
Guggenheim Fellowship
American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, New York
2005
American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
2000
Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, New York
