Betsy Bradley

Betsy Bradley (b. Bath, UK, 1992) lives and works in the Midlands, UK. Bradley’s paintings are characterised by pulsating, vibrant colourful brushstrokes sweeping across stretched fabrics like voile and organza. Her paintings trigger the unfolding of multiple dimensions on a single surface, pushing the perceptual possibilities of the medium. The artist’s surfaces, often translucent fabrics, dissolve the distinction between figure and ground and invite the play of light and space.

“In Bradley’s world view, materials act – they are vibrant, lively, potent. Here painting is not a matter of mastery and domination. Instead, it comes closer to a controlled experiment: decisions are made that precipitate a sequence of events in which chance, instinct, and the properties of materials are allowed full expression. Asked about colour, Bradley will describe herself reacting, rather than imposing – responding to one tone with another that surprises her, then another, then another – to achieve teetering harmony, as though she were making visible a pre-existing state of equilibrium. She is interested in how painting can make the intangible visible: brushstrokes that give form to an exhalation, to energy, to gesture, to euphoria, to balance.

The swoops and dives, traces, floods, scrapes, whispers and slicks of paint we find here are the result of improvised choreography: a series of pas des deux between Bradley and her homemade brushes and tools. Those tools can be marvellously, comically unwieldy: handles made from fenceposts, with pasting brushes lashed together at the end. Bristled draft excluders ripped from the bottoms of doors. The marks they make are unpredictable, as is the range of movement available to Bradley as she paints.” (Hettie Judah)

Bradley’s first London solo exhibition was held at Vardaxoglou, London (2022). A major recent solo institutional exhibition dedicated to her work was staged at IKON Gallery, Birmingham (2022). Recent group exhibitions include ‘The Reason For Painting’, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, UK (2023).