Mark Bradford

Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York
Acquired by the present owner directly from the above in December 2005

Columbus, Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University; Boston, Institute of Contemporary Art; Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art; Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art; San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Mark Bradford, May 2010 - May 2012, cat. no. 16,  pp. 152-153, illustrated in color

This work is in excellent condition. There is some minor vertical undulation throughout. There is some lifting of the collaged elements in places to the irregular edges, which is consistent with the artist's process and media. Close inspection reveals a small number of short hairline tears between ½ and 3" to the extreme edges, 2 to the top, 2 to the left, 3 to the right and 9 to the bottom, which may be inherent to the artist's process, and several intermittent nail holes to the extreme edges to attach the work directly to the wall. There is a small ½" hole above center towards the right edge, and 4 towards the center of the left edge, which are inherent to the nature of the work.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Mark Bradford has explained how his work is informed by such varied sources as the histories of abstraction, cartography and map-making, community networks, and perhaps most fascinatingly the materials he uses themselves. Deftly described by Christopher Bedford, “His rejection of the traditional methods of painting issues not from an objection to the formal characteristics of those materials but from a rejection of those materials as diametrically at odds with the vital social dialectic he maintains between his chosen subjects and the materials he elects to use. To accept Bradford’s practice as a painting practice requires that we expand our materially determined understanding of the discipline…As Bradford notes, “the most important imperative to be questioned is the one that tells you to go to the art supply store to be a painter.” (Exh. Cat., Columbus, The Ohio State University, Wexner Center for the Arts and travelling, Mark Bradford, 2010-12, p. 19) The snippets of textual information, the implication of lettering and photomechanical images that occasionally peep through the heavily built-up surfaces of Potable Water act as a type of narrative, though certainly not as a preordained or planned story, and also suggest a certain autobiography related to the artist's processes of selection and revelation.