Los Moscos by Mark Bradford - Essay Example

Through an examination of Los Moscos, the discussion of urban problems and decay are well exampled and can be appreciated from an abstract perception.

The Artist

            The artist Mark Bradford is from Los Angeles, California, and has a Master’s level education in art. Using a multi-media approach to his art, he has created large scaled, wall-sized collages and installations that are responses to migrant communities, underground economies, and the public space, urban and raw as he develops his discourse through abstracted concepts. An award-winning artist, he has developed a series of works that explore his perception of the world that includes historic concepts such as the civil rights demonstrations to current immigration issues (Art 21). The following analysis looks at his work Los Moscos and discusses the impact and meaning behind the work.

Los Moriscos

            The work Los Moscos has been created through the use of paper and paint which explores the concept of flatness as it emerged in Modernism, as well as the use of text as a visual element within a work. Greenburg discusses the nature of the Old Masters as they preserved the “integrity of the picture plane” where Modernist aspects of the picture plane are to see it as a picture rather than a representation that was created within the picture (1939, 775). There are two aspects that complement both of these ideas within this work. The piece is visible first as a picture, but it also has the integrity of the picture plane as the composition is defined by its boundaries and becomes an absorbing perspective as a commentary on urban life.

            The development of the concept of aesthetics where Modernism is concerned, as expressed by Greenburg, is that during the youth of the Modernist, political commentary is rich in their work, but as the artist retires and has aged, it becomes developed in spite of the political environment (1965). Commenting on the world is a space through which the artist is able to create movement within his or her work that is beyond that of the edge of the canvas. The impression of the abstract artist who works through developing a certain aesthetic that is intended to comment on society has the intent of creating a shift in the perception of the viewer.

            That shift is available in the work done by Bradford as the piece has a vivid definition of color use, while an urban expression of a concept of ‘broken’, the radiating cracks in the black paint supporting the idea that something is not being held together in a society that is ordered and linear. The juxtaposition of ideas supports a belief system that would stem from the urban experience and the history of racial relations affecting the urban space. The piece can be read from the perspective of Bradford’s history, but the same message is readily available without knowing his attachment to the issues of urbanization as they are related to racial issues of immigration, civil rights, and urban decay. The piece defines the technological use of text, placed throughout the piece in order to affect the structural space within the work. Even in its chaos, there is a geometric order to the work, lines, and designs either following a random, but ordered pattern or radiating imagery that is specific to a repetitive structure.

            The expression of the urban space is well accomplished in the work as he defines the differences between the classes while creating commentary that is deeply rooted in decay and loss. Greenburg states that “in a stable society which functions well enough to hold in solution the contradictions between its classes the cultural dichotomy becomes somewhat blurred” (1939). That sense of the blurred states of the cultures in the urban space is present in this work as the movement provides both space and location while providing a plethora of spaces in which it could be placed. It is a space that is both specific and generic as the commentary places his concepts into the overall conversation on urban issues and deconstruction. The uniqueness of his space is that he defines flatness through his linear development while creating a dimensional quality with his shattered cracks that play over the surface of the work.

Conclusion

            As Greenburg has commented on the nature of Modernist Art, his concepts can be translated to relate to the work of Mark Bradford as he creates political commentary within the boundaries of his canvas. Bradford creates a commentary on the nature of urbanity, his work reflecting technological concepts even as the entirety of his linear work is shattered by the radiating fields sporadic across the plane. His expression of urban problems is developed through ordered and well-thought-out placement of his materials, his work supporting a strong statement, while also creating a defined space in which his thoughts are conveyed to the viewer of his work. Bradford’s work accomplishes the goal of both commentary and well-constructed art.