Shain Gallery | 10/7-10/20 | Charlotte, NC

Bringing the Outdoors In

Shain Gallery presents a new series of nature scenes by Joseph Bradley.

For two weeks at Shain Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina, Joseph Bradley examines the human relationship to nature in a new series of 20 to 25 mixed media paintings. While Bradley has focused most of his career painting playful nature scenes, including flora and fauna, the artist says this new series “is getting a little more serious.” The focus, now, is getting viewers to pause for a moment, connect to nature and “wash your spirit clean,” in the words of conservationist and writer John Muir, who is also an inspiration to Bradley’s work. Owl on Gold, mixed media, 24 x 12"“These new pieces, specifically, are the iconography of nature and [meant to draw attention to] the idea that we live in a digital ether where we’re constantly being bombarded. My paintings are shaking a fist at that,” Bradley notes. “There’s this moment happening where we’re beginning to recognize that the digital experience robs us of actual connection.”

Bradley’s response to this epidemic of digital disconnection is creating art that acts as visual poetry to slow you down, ponder and ground you in the moment. “I’m bringing the outdoors indoors,” he says. Through the Wild Woods, mixed media, 60 x 60"

In the show piece Through the Wild Woods, showing two deer frolicking among a forest background, Bradley successfully draws the viewer into his imaginative “outdoor” world—one he is quite connected to himself as an avid gardener and nature observer in his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina. “This is a celebration of my connection with nature,” says Bradley of the painting, “but I wanted to have a lot of movement and I like the idea of something coming at you—like the deer from the left side and the other deer weaving through this other space. It creates a vortex in the middle of the painting. The energy is what this piece is mostly about.”Midnight Botanicals, mixed media, 48 x 36"

In addition to Bradley’s love of nature, he’s also inspired by turn-of-the-century decorative arts. He notes that items like wallpaper and fabrics help create a rhythm to his work. In The Wild Green, featuring parakeets surrounded by foliage, we see this fascination come to life. “I often say that I’m painting for my own house,” says Bradley, “or what I’d like to see on my own walls. I love wallpaper and the idea of pattern on pattern. [In this piece], I love the jewel tones set against the dark background, and there are so many layers.” Bradley also notes that birds are a favorite subject matter of his, along with the process of painting plant shapes and structures.

Plant shapes are emphasized even more so in pieces like Midnight Botanicals, depicting peonies set against a black background. “Peonies don’t really last very long in South Carolina,” the artist remarks, “but I planted these in my garden and would go out in the evening to look at them while they were still around. The evening is not a typical viewing time for flowers, but I like the idea that life is temporal. We have to cherish the moments we still have with nature and with people.”The Wild Green, mixed media, 48 x 48"While Bradley’s paintings are beautiful in any setting, there is no substitute for seeing them in person. Each piece contains around 30 layers of oil paint and often includes other elements like metal leaf, wood panel and graphite which adds more depth and encourages an even deeper connection without the digital distraction. —