Betsy Bradley’s new public commission in Birmingham

Installation view, Betsy Bradley, Dakini Ocean (2023)

Betsy Bradley’s newest publicly commissioned painting has been installed in the reception area of Paradise Birmingham, One Centenary Way:

“When first invited to take on the commission, a translucent partition immediately came to my mind. I hoped this could be an opportunity to expand on a work I made in my first major solo exhibition at Ikon gallery in 2022 – a semi-translucent painted wall.

I am interested in how my work might interact with architectural spaces, becoming a part of them in the most authentic way, as well as playfully exploring their functional possibility. So, the fact that One Centenary Way was looking for something to serve as both a partition and artwork was a perfect invitation.

Taking the form of 3 panels, each just over 4 metres tall by nearly 2 metres wide, the piece acts as a very large screen to divide the reception area from where people enter barriers to go into the main building. I think of this work as a space in itself, rather than a fixed entity. The translucency of the voile fabric means the painted gestures are suspended as if weightless, floating in the air.” (Betsy Bradley)