Bradley Harms: Savant-Garde

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Image courtesy of Newzones

Bradley Harms, "Run The Jewels," 2020

acrylic on paper, 30" x 22"

Newzones is pleased to announce "Savant-Garde", a solo exhibition by Bradley Harms.

Advancing ideas within abstraction has always been central in Bradley Harms practice. For the past number of years, Bradley Harms has been on the front lines of the new wave of Canadian abstraction, building upon traditions within the medium, while creating work that both reflects and critiques contemporary social and technological developments.

Of his new series, Harms’ states:

“These paintings all build upon the history of abstraction, shining the flickering light of contemporary life upon them to create objects that are at once forward looking and reflective of the speed at which our culture currently moves. Through tightening and controlling these compositions into tasty bite-sized passages, I create a “prescriptive abstraction” of sorts. This strategy creates large, all-over bombastic compositions while simultaneously providing viewers time and opportunity for contemplation. The works become both amplified and distilled, explosive and contemplative, concurrently. Selections of the works employ screens and amplifiers to further press this mode of viewership. These methods map how we look at abstraction without fetishizing the paint itself, or the process through more thoughtful and analytical interpretations.

I am always confounded when some claim that looking at abstraction is more difficult than looking at representation. I acknowledge that it is perhaps a more alien process to undertake, as we have no imagery to attach meaning in non-referential work. However, I do not think that it is more challenging to view abstraction, only perhaps a little uncomfortable at first. The beautiful irony is there is no wrong way to look at a non-referential work. With many of the works in this exhibition, I outline where to look, but not how to look. With that said, look openly… and with time the work will show themselves (from you) to you.”