Street level : Mark Bradford, William Cordova and Robin Rhode
For these artists, found objects and performative gestures help build the foundation for their art, which includes painting, works on paper, sculpture, photography, video, installation, and other mixed media. Together they reinterpret urban vernacular to engage critical issues of class, geography, and race in contemporary society. Mark Bradford is best known for abstract collages made largely from accumulated signage taken from the streets of South Central Los Angeles that he tears, bleaches, sands, and embellishes to reconfigure the urban landscape. William Cordova works primarily with found paper and everyday objects to create drawings and mixed-media installations - some materials and iconography such as books, speakers, tires and albums are recurring images that allude both to his Peruvian heritage and modern urban subcultures. Inspired by graffiti, film, sports, and hip-hop, as well as his personal experiences in the rough neighbourhoods of Johannesburg, Robin Rhode's performances involve the build-up and erasure of chalk drawings on the walls of public spaces and galleries that playfully transform his renderings into illusory three-dimensional objects through the artist's physical engagement
Print Book, English, 2007
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, N.C., 2007