An extremely confident visualist who avoids being showy, Mark Bradford is at his most impressive when working on huge canvases making bold statements, but his smaller gestures are no less successful. A tall African-American man from South Central L.A. (who was often assumed to be a basketball player) Bradford seems alternately bemused and outraged by the stubbornly enduring stereotypes that cling to his race and gender.

The installation series Pinocchio on Fire depicts the tragicomic story of singer Teddy Pendergrass, an icon of black male sexuality whose career was derailed after being in a car crash with a transgendered passenger. Through defaced Disney fairy tale record sleeves and a large black room that feels like a wake for an idea, he gets his point across to stunning effect. When he’s being more direct, like the large canvases devoted to events like Hurricane Katrina, the results are spellbinding. While technically collages, there’s something so organic about the works he seems to redefine the detritus of urban landscapes as a naturally occurring element. Combining the grammar of Google maps and consumerism he creates patterns that feel inevitable and leaves the viewer dazzled by how effortless it all seems.

Critical Mob