LIVE Magazine Vol 7, Issue #167

16
Bradford J. Salamon
Artist and The Gentle Art of Perception
Sometimes an artist gives up all for his creative muse - - for Van Gough,
it was an ear; for Gauguin it was the bourgeois life of tarp salesman; for
Bradford J. Salamon it was the comfort of hearth and home.
Growing up in the Southern California beach communities, Bradford J.
Salamon was surrounded by surfers and art. His father was a commercial
art dealer, selling prints and limited editions. With that as his muse, Bradford
entered the world of commercial art. He had a career, a mortgage, and a
family – all things that many equate with a good life. But Bradford felt the tug
– he instinctively knew his art could be so much more, but what?
At the Art Institute of Southern California, Bradford refined his skills. He
found mentors such as Jeremy Lipking and David Leffel , artists who further
encouraged Bradford. He found the world of contemporary art. He studied the
art of museums. In this process he lost the career, mortgage and family. But
in this journey, Bradford’s art began to evolve.
Bradford is an intuitive painter. He paints figures –portraits that captured
a sitter in a moment, not a pose. Preferring to choose the sitter, and NOT
to be chosen by the sitter, Bradford draws from the essence of the sitter.
His visages, portraits is too confining a term, evoke John Singer Sargent –
capture the light and the movement rather than a face frozen in time.
While the finished work may be thought of as a portrait Bradford’s process
is not so simple. His portraits are comprised of a series of portraits. He often
captures the works in progress on his iPhone. The collection of portraits and
photos form the basis for many of Bradford’s videos. The video captures what
Bradford is seeking – awareness of the process; awareness of the connection
and affect of art on the subject, the viewer and ultimately its creator; and
awareness of our humanity.
Why this intricate process? Bradford has stated that his process “(d)eepens
my relationships with other human beings that no other act would accomplish.
The process of painting is an interaction, which cannot be done from memory.
Human beings are three-dimensional. In order to portray the real person, the
artist must interact. Spending hours and hours cannot help but deepen the
connection and affect the art. This close kinship brings out the intimate details
of the sitter and his or her creative nature; and the artist’s response to it.”
Bradford brings the same intensity to his paintings of inanimate, vintage
objects. For him, these objects connect the past with the present and expand
the artist’s range of perceiving the world around him. For Bradford J. Salamon
this is what the art process is all about. – perceiving the world and not just
seeing it.
For more information about Bradford, visit www.bradfordjsalamon.com. His
current show, VISAGES opens October 5, 2013 at Brett Rubbico Gallery,
Newport Beach CA (www.brettrubbicogallery.com).
Angela Romeo is the producer /host of COLLIDING WORLDS TV and COLLIDING
WORLDS RADIO. For more information visit: www.collidingworldstvandart.com
Colliding Worlds TV is available on YouTube at
www.youtube.com/user/AngelaValenteRomeo
or at Colliding Worlds Vimeo:
www.vimeo.com/collidingworldstv
Colliding Worlds TV broadcasts on KPSE (MY 13 Palm Springs California) Saturdays
at noon and Thursdays at 6:30 am
Photo by Dimitri halkiDis
By Angela Romeo
Colliding Worlds Radio, broadcasts and live streams weekly,
Saturday from 11 am to 12 pm on KPSF 1200 AM (Money Radio 1200)
Colliding Worlds is now on KMIR (Palm Springs)Saturday at 5 am and on KPSE
Thursday (Palm Springs) at 6:30 am
CW Radio podcasts are available at
www.collidingworldstvandart.com