Photo credit: Tamara Staples
Bradley Wester — Visual Artist & Writer
new york/rhode island
Bio
Bradley Wester moved his studio from Brooklyn NY to Bristol RI, about 30 minutes southeast of Providence and North of Newport. His 990SF studio is located in the old Byfield schoolhouse on the town green, complete with old slate chalkboards. He spends his time between Rhode Island and New York.
Born
New Orleans, LA
Teaching
Rhode Island School of Design 2013, Critic in the Department of Painting, Providence RI, winter 2013
California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) 2011, Design-Installation Art; Valencia CA
Ringling College of Art and Design, Visiting Artist/Full-Time Professor 2007-2010; Sarasota, FL
Sint Lucas Antwerpen 2009, Painting-Drawing; Antwerp Belgium
Visiting Artist, Lecturer
Mass Art
Tulane University
Dartmouth College
University of Southern Florida, Tampa
School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York, NY
California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Valencia CA
Kyoto University of Art & Design, Japan
New College, Sarasota FL
University of Southeastern Louisiana, Hammond LA
American Academy in Rome
Roger Williams University
University of Louisiana, Lafayette
Art Workshop International, Assisi Italy
Bristol Art Museum, Rhode Island
Education
MFA Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts; New Brunswick, NJ
BFA Louisiana State University; Lafayette, LA
Solo Exhibitions
2021 Bradley Wester DISCOrd #1: Zip Tied, Farm Projects, Wellfleet MA
2020 Drawings & a Reading, ARProjects, a Skid Row loft popup gallery, Los Angeles CA
2017 DISCOurse #3 Velvet Rope, Yellow Peril Gallery, Providence RI
2015 DISCOurse #2 SHINE, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York NY
2014 DISCOurse #1 Pinup, Yellow Peril Gallery, Providence RI
2009 Bradley Wester, Margalef & Gipponi Contemporary Art; Antwerp, Belgium
2009 Next Post… Bradley Wester, Rupert Ravens Contemporary; Newark, NJ
2008 Bradley Wester, TRAVERSE KUMUKUMU Gallery; New York, NY
2007 Paper or Plastic: 7 Years, Mack B Gallery; Sarasota, FL
2007 Everyday Inside Out, SPACE Gallery; Portland, ME
2004 Bradley Wester: When In Rome, Bruno Marina Gallery; Brooklyn, NY
2003 Bradley Wester: HELLO my name is, lyonswiergallery; New York, NY
2000 Bradley Wester, New Gallery; Houston, TX
1997 Bradley Wester Recent Work, New Jersey State Museum; Trenton, NJ
1993 Paintings and Works on Paper: 1991-1993, Michael Walls Gallery; New York, NY
Still Sitting, Artists Space; New York, NY
1990 Seven Works, Michael Walls Gallery; New York, NY
New Paintings and Drawing on Paper, Aaron Hastings Gallery; New Orleans, LA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 Spacing Out: Expanding the Field of Vision (curator Karen Conway) Jamestown Arts Center, Jamestown RI
2020 Exhibitionisms (curators Albright, Mauser, & Majumdar) Tiger Strikes Asteroid and Space & Time, Chicago
2019 Unbound: Highlights from the Stanton Storer Collection, Scarfone/Hartley Gallery, University of Tampa
Dead Ringer (curated by Elizabeth Duffy) Bristol Art Museum, RI
Notebook (curated by Joanne Greenbaum) 56 Henry Gallery, New York NY
2017 Privates (curated by Tobey Albright & Nicole Mauser), F.H. Johnson Gallery of Art, Carthage College WI
Night Fever (curated by Emily Colucci), Future Tenant, Pittsburg PA
2014 Art is Hope; PIASA, Paris France
2011-14 Remix: Selections from the International Collage Center, The Daum Museum, Bates College Museum, etc
2011 ABSTRACT Edge Zones Art Center; Miami FL
2010 Legwork Performance 1: Adoption (participatory photography), Basso, Berlin Germany
2009 Office Space ROCA (Rockland Center for the Creative Arts), Nyack NY
2008 Digital Art in the Post-Digital Age, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland FL
2007 Squared (curator David Gibson of the Earnest Rubenstein Gallery) The Educational Alliance, New York NY
2007 Mapping the Terrain, Contemporary Art Gallery, Southeastern Louisiana University Hammond LA
2006 Undergrowth: Bates, Cauwenbergh, Lee, Wester; Gallery Sakiko, New York, NY
The New Collage, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY
2004 Meat Market, lyonswiergallery, New York, NY
Controlled Chaos,lyonswiergallery, New York NY
-scope fairs (lyonswiergallery) New York, NY, Los Angeles CA, Miami FL
-scope fair (lyonswiergallery), Hotel Gansevoort, New York NY
2003 Summer Group Show Bruno Marina Gallery, Brooklyn NY
Postcards From The Edge (Visual AIDS Benefit), Galerie Lelong, New York NY
-scope, Los Angeles (lyonswiergallery), The Standard, New York NY
-scope, New York (lyonswiergallery), dylan hotel, New York NY
2002 The Affordable Art Fair (lyonswiergallery), Pier 92, New York NY
Postcards From The Edge (Visual AIDS Benefit) Sperone Westwater, New York NY
25th Anniversary Selections Exhibition The Drawing Center, New York NY
anXious D.u.m.b.o. Arts Center, Brooklyn NY
Selections: New American Paintings #38 Open Studios Press Gallery, Boston MA
2001 Pierogi 2000 Flat File (ongoing) Pierogi 2000, Brooklyn NY
Winter Paper Catherine Moore Fine Art, NY
2000 Yard Sale/Downtown Arts Festival ’00 NYC Lab School-Chelsea, New York NY;
Out Side In Catherine Moore Fine Art, New York NY
1999 Size Matters Mike Wiess, curator Gale Gates Gallery, Brooklyn NY;
The Passion/Passions of Art Richard Anderson Gallery, New York NY;
Queer Vision Mason Gross Gallery, Rutgers University, NJ;
Calm and Commotion Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson MS
1998 Little Jeffrey Coploff Fine Art, New York NY
1997 Thin Skin: Weiss, Suter, Wester, Newark Museum, Newark NJ;
Recent Acquisitions: A Selection Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson MS;
Intimate Universe (re-visited) Robert Steele Gallery, New York NY
1996 Bradley Wester & Jaqueline Humphries Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans LA;
NJ State Council Fellowship Exhibition, The Noyes Museum, Oceanville NJ
1995 The Small Painting O’Hara Gallery, New York NY;
A Romantic Impulse: 17 American Artists O’Hara Gallery, New York NY;
New York Abstract Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans LA
1994 Fifty Nifty Pictures + Objects AHI Gallery, New York NY
1993 Regarding Beauty Halsey Gallery, Charleston SC;
Intimate Universe Nina Fruedenheim Gallery, Buffalo NY;
New Jersey Arts Annual The Newark Museum, Newark NJ
1992 Intimate Universe Michael Walls Gallery, New York NY;
Freedom of Expression ’92 Metro Pictures Gallery, New York NY
1991 Entr’acte Michael Walls Galler, New York NY
1990 The Environs of Elegance Michael Walls Gallery, New York NY;
Intimate Inventions/Gestural Abstractions Madison Art Center, Madison WI;
In timate Inventions/Gestural Abstractions Wriston Art Center, Appleton WI
1989 The Collective Spirit Artists Alliance Gallery, Lafayette LA;
Five Painters Michael Walls Gallery, New York NY;
Selections 43 The Drawing Center, New York NY
Awards/Fellowships
2017 Writing Fellowship, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar VA
2017 Writing Fellowship, The Hermitage Artist Retreat, Manasota Key FL
2012 Fellow, SUMMER FORUM for inquiry + exchange, New Harmony IN
2011 A.I.R. Antwerpen International Artist Residency Award, Antwerp Belgium
2011–12 Visual Art Residency Award, The Hermitage Artist Retreat, Manasota Key FL
2008 Fulbright Senior Specialist in Art, Kyoto University of Art and Design, Kyoto Japan
2007 The MacDowell Artist Colony Painting Fellowship, Peterborough NH
2006 New American Painters, NE edition #62 – Juror: Bill Arning, Curator at the MIT List Center for Visual Arts
2005 Chashama (AREA) Studio Residency, 40 Worth Street, New York NY
2004 Visual Art Fellowship, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar VA
2003-2004 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
American Academy of Rome, Visiting Artist, Rome Italy
2003 Visual Art Fellowship, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar VA
2002 New American Painters, NE edition #38
Juror: Lilian Tone, Assistant Curator, Museum of Modern Art
2001 The MacDowell Artist Colony Painting Fellowship, Peterborough NH
1994 Fellowship Award for Painting New Jersey State Council on the Arts
1992 Change Inc., New York NY (Established by Robert Rauschenberg)
1991 Edward F. Albee Foundation, Visual Arts Fellowship, Montauk NY
Collections
Museum: Mississippi State Museum Jackson MS
Corporate: The Maslow Collection Wilkes-Barre PA
The Prudential Insurance Company Newark NJ
Selected Private: Ross Bleckner, New York NY
Edward Albee, New York NY
Estelle Dodge Bay Harbor, Islands FL
Vera List, New York NY
Richard & Margaret Matthews-Berenson, New York NY
Bibliography/Catalogues
2015 “Dance With Me In The Disco Heat: Bradley Wester’s ‘DISCOurse #2: Shine’,” Emily Colucci; filthy dreams
2015 “New York: Bradley Wester – Pavel Zoubok Gallery” by Ann Albritton; Sculpture Magazine, December
2014 “Razzle-dazzle and bedazzled,” Greg Cook; The Providence Phoenix
2007 The Herald Tribune, Sarasota FL; Pelican Press, Sarasota FL; Sarasota Magazine
“Envelopes & Labels,” Avery Yale Kamilla; The Maine Switch (Portland ME) 5 June
2006 “Gallery Going” Maureen Mullarkey; The New York Sun 29, June
2005 “Square Feet; For Artists…,” Lisa Chamberlain; The New York Times, 8 May
2004 “When In Rome, Bruno Marina Gallery,” Benjamin La Rocco; The Brooklyn Rail, June
2003 “bradley wester @ lyonswiergallery,” Writer’s Picks; NY Arts International, May
2000 “Out Side In @ Catherine Moore,” Stefano Pasquini; NY Arts Magazine, July/August
1999 “Brooklyn Spice,” Paul Laster; artnet.com, Reviews, Fall
1998 “Artist Presses Emotion into Service,” Philadelphia Inquirer (PA) 10 August
1997 “Thin Skin,” Robert M. Murdock; Review Magazine (NewYork NY) July/August
“Beauty in the Bottom of a Barrel,” Princeton Packet Time Off, 11-20 July
1996 “Beyond the Modern and Back Again,” D. Eric Bookhart; New Orleans Gambit, May
1995 “In the Presence of Death,” Bill Brantley; The New York Times, 5 May
“Some New York Hedonists” by Terrrington Calas; New Orleans Art Review, May/June
“Bradley Wester” by Miyako Yoshinaga; Nikkei Art (Tokyo, Japan) August
1994 “Theatre Review: Junk Bonds,” Alexis Greene; Theatre Week, 12 December
“ ‘Word of Mouth’ Prompts Smiles,” by Michael Lasser; The Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester NY); 23 October
1993 “Art of Social Awareness,” by Eileen Watkins; The Star Ledger (Newark NJ), 17 March
1990 “Inventions/Abstractions Deserves a Browse,” Bill Moore; Wisconsin State Journal, 26 May
2006 Open Studio Press-New American Paintings, volume #62 Juror: Bill Arning, Curator MIT List Center for Visual Arts
2002 Open Studio Press-New American Paintings volume #38 Juror: Lilian Tone, Asst. Curator Museum of Modern Art
Writing/Publications/Readings
2021 “Madonna’s Astrologer Predicts Mr. Right” by Bradley Wester; P.S. I Love You
“My Dinner with Willem de Kooning, Painter Hero” by Bradley Wester; The Creative Cafe
2020 “Art Shapes the Artist, Not the Other Way Around” by Bradley Wester; Personal Growth
“Pride Is the Antonym of Shame” by Bradley Wester; Prism & Penn
“Putting the Disco Back into Discourse” by Bradley Wester; Prism & Penn
2019 “The Trouble with Metaphor” by Bradley Wester; curated on Medium.com
2018 MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, Club 57 Exhibit —a reading: “Gender-Fuck” by Bradley Wester, March 22
2018 “Why I Hated Sasha Waltz’s Kreatur at BAM and the Arts Funding Econo-system” by Bradley Wester; Filthy Dreams
2016 “Brothers Katrina” by Bradley Wester, Winner: Best Creative Nonfiction Prize, Fresher Writing 2016 Bournemouth UK
“Letter From Bristol” by Bradley Wester; Providence Journal
2013 AIR Traces, AIR Antwerpen publisher, Belgium (English/Dutch)
2010 “My Summer in Berlin: The In-Between of Contemporary Art” by Bradley Wester; PulseBerlin
Theatrical Design
Bradley Wester has designed Theatre works for Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, and in Los Angeles, and New Orleans, by producers such as Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Fox Television, The Promenade Theatre-NY, LaMama-NY, Music Theatre Group-NY, Here Theatre-NY, and The Court Theatre-LA. Wester has designed plays of noted playwrights such as Eve Ensler, David Greenspan, Lucy Wang, and James Lecesne. In the 80’s Wester worked with world renown experimental theatre artist Robert Wilson, as a performer and personal assistant. Wester also wrote, designed, and performed his own performance/theatre work, which was presented in venues such as The Kitchen Center-NY, Danspace St. Marks Church-NY, MoMA PS1, New Orleans Contemporary Art Center, Sarah Lawrence College, and the New Jersey State Museum.
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