We all have our icons that we aspire to be like or at least embody what they seem to exude. The icon that I am focused on lately who has been a source of inspiration and influence for me is Mark Bradford. He’s a contemporary abstract painter who works in very large scale and actually doesn’t use much if any paint in his paintings.
If I had to pick my top favorite paintings of all his work, it would be 150 Portrait Tone. It’s a very large painting about 20 feet by 20 feet comprised of a direct quote taken from the Facebook streamed video from July 2016 of a fatal shooting of Philando Castile by a police officer in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Castile was fatally shot after being pulled over in his car for a broken tail light. The live streamed video was taken by Philando Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who sat in the passenger side of the vehicle. After the officer shoots Philando Castile, Diamond starts streaming to Facebook documenting what had just transpired
In the live streamed video, you can hear Castile's girlfriend saying "Please don't tell me this Lord, please Jesus don't tell me that he's gone." Bradford was struck by her words as Castile lay dying, later incorporating them into the painting. He felt her response, "...was visual, and textual, and heartbreaking, and heroic, and strong all at the same time."
Bradford’s paining includes excerpts of Reynolds’s dialogue while the title itself refers to the name and color code of the pink acrylic used throughout the painting.
“Like the now-obsolete “flesh” crayon in the Crayola 64 box (renamed “peach” in 1962), the color “portrait tone” carries inherent assumptions about who, exactly, is being depicted. In the context of Bradford’s painting, the title presents a sobering commentary on power and representation. “ - Taken from the LACMA website.
Below is a video that I watch often when I’m needing a motivational boost to stay committed to my own voice and journey. I love when he says, “I want a seat at that table,” when referencing joining the conversation of art. The coolest part about Mark Bradford is that he is the conversation and we are all just hoping to be invited to his table. Thank you for your art and your voice, Mark Bradford! My hope is that you find it inspirational to commit to your voice too.
