Katherine Bradford (b. 1942, New York) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
With their rich, intuitive color palettes and intriguing figurative compositions, the paintings of Katherine Bradford skillfully merge the traditions of abstract expressionism and color field painting with contemporary explorations of identity. Groups of swimmers and superheroes are recurring motifs in these scenes, often depicted with blank faces and set ambiguously into luminous planes of color. With few indications of pictorial depth, distinctions between solid ground, water and air are blurred, so that any sense of weight, space or gravity is elusive.
Katherine Bradford’s work presents not only a form of radical self-empowerment, but references current social issues; be it gender, but also the relationship between individual and society. Bradford’s fantastical worlds negotiate both cohesion and empathy, as well as isolation and loss.
Bradford had solo institutional exhibitions at Kunsthalle Emden, Germany; Halle für Kunst Steiermark, Austria; Hall Art Foundation, Vermont; Frye Art Museum, Seattle; Portland Museum of Art, Portland; The Modern Museum of Forth Worth, Forth Wort, TX, among others, and has been included in the following institutional group exhibitions (selection): Kunsthalle Nurnberg, Germany; RISD Museum, Brown University, Providence; Transcend Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, AL; Farnswort Art Museum, Rockland, ME; The Storefront, Bellport, NY; Havard University, Cambridge, MA; New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA; Bowdwoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME, US; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterwille, Maine.
Public Collections (selection): Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Brooklyn Museum, NY; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; Smith College Museum, MA; Bowdoin College Museum, ME; Farnsworth Museum, ME; Pennsyvania Academy of Fine Arts, PA; Bates College Museum, MA; Addison Gallery of American Art, MA; Worcester Museum of Art, MA; Portland Museum, ME; Kunsthalle Emden, Germany.
Born in New York, NY / geboren in New York, NY, US
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY / lebt und arbeitet in Brooklyn, NY, US
MFA, State University of New York, Purchase, NY
BA, Bryn Mawr College, PA
2026
ALLTAG, Haverkampf Leistenschneider, Berlin (forthcoming Berlin Gallery Weekend)
Hyundai, Seoul Korea (forthcoming)
2025
Communal Table, CANADA Gallery, New York, US
Saturn Swimmers: Katherine Bradford and Chris Martin, Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, France
Flight Over Water Town, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Minato, Japan
Katherine Bradford and Anna Dibble, Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2024
Flight Over Water Town, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Humankind, kaufmann repetto, Milan, Italy
SKY SWIMMERS, Kunsthalle Emden, Emden, Germany
GERTRUDE STEIN AND SUPERMAN, Haverkampf Leistenschneider, Berlin, Germany
AMERICAN ODYSSEY, Halle für Kunst Steiermark, Austria
2023
FEAR OF SHOES, Kunstmuseum Schloss Derneburg, The Hall Foundation, Germany
FLYING WOMAN, Retrospective at the Frye Art Museum, Seattle, USA
Arms and the Sea, CANADA, New York, NY
Les Saltimbanques, Campoli Presti, Paris, France
2022
FLYING WOMAN, Retrospective at the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, USA
Shell Seekers, CANADA, New York, NY
2021
Swimmers and Lifeguards, Kaufman Repetto, Milan, Italy
Diedrick Brackens, & Katherine Bradford, Harvard’s Carpenter Art Center for Visual Art, Cambridge, MA
Mother Paintings, CANADA, New York, NY
Philosophers’ Clambake, Hall Art Foundation, Reading VT
2020
Circus, Adams and Ollman, Portland
2019
Artists, Cops and Circus People, Campoli Presti, Paris, France
Legs and Stripes, Campoli Presti, London, UK
2018
Superman returns with swimmers, Philipp Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Katherine Bradford: Friends and Strangers, CANADA, New York, NY
Katherine Bradford: Magenta Nights, Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR
2017
Katherine Bradford, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
Superman Responds, Philipp Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Katherine Bradford, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY
2016
Fear of Waves, CANADA, New York, NY
Divers and Dreamers, Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR
2013
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
2026
ICA at MECA, Portland ME, March– May 2026 (forthcoming)
“New On View” Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland (forthcoming)
Night Swimming, Broadway Gallery, New York, NY
Dwelling, New Acquisitions, Cantor Art Center, Stanford University, CA
2025
Why Have My Hands Strayed?, Haverkampf Leistenschneider, Berlin
Drawing from nature, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Toward the Light: Artists for the Ali Forney Center, David Zwirner,
New York, NY
2025
Annual Exhibition, The Campus, Hudson, NY 2/16
Paper Tigers, CANADA, New York, NY
Portraits From the ICA Collection, Institute of Contemporary Art,
Boston, MA
Blue Zone, Kunsthal, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
European and American Art, Sevil Dolmaci Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
A field of Bloom and Hum, Tang Museum, Skidmore, NY
A Certain Form of Hell, Karma, Thomaston, ME
Sunday, Vito Schnabel Gallery, ST. Moritz, Switzerland
Sunday, Tripoli Gallery, Long Island, NY
Float or Fly, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Love Poems, curated by Chris Martin, Anton Kern, NY
Second Annual Exhibition, The Campus, Hudson, NY
Artists on Boxing, Strike Fast Dance Lightly, Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, FL
Painting Energy, The Alex Katz Collection, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Solar Music, Lunar Reveal, Uffner Lui Gallery, New York, NY
Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue, Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR
A Direct Response to Light, Alexander Berggruen, New York, NY
21 Woman, Texas Gallery, Houston, TX
Rest and Reprieve, curated by Christina Ine-Kimba Boyle, Canada
Gallery, New York, NY
Keepers, curated by Cody Stack, Moss Galleries, Portland, ME
Deep Color Group Show, curated by Joe Hart, Halsey McKay
Gallery, East Hampton, NY
A Closer Look, Haverkampf Leistenschneider Gallery, Berlin, Germany
New Life, curated by Alexi Worth and Danica Lundy, Platform
Project Space, Brookyn, NY
2024
Inner Life, Tripoli Gallery, Wainscott, NY
Christmas in July, curated by Wells Chandler, Andrew Rafacz
Gallery, New York, NY
Human Nature, Journal Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Licked by the Waves: New Bathers in Art, Museum MORE, Gorssel, Netherlands
Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing, The Church, Sag
Harbor, NY (traveling to The Flag Art Foundation, NY and Norton
Museum of Art, FL)
Love is Everything, Galerie Judith Andreae, Bonn, Germany
Mercury Rising, Bookstein Projects, New York, NY
Travelers in the Mist, Larsen Warner, Stockholm, Sweden
Le Vernissage, Partie Un, Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, France
Color is the First Revelation of the World, Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA
The Long View: Selections from the Norma B. Marin Collection
ofMaineArt, Zillman Art Museum, Bangor, ME
Conversation Galante, Pilar Corrias, London, UK
Cultural Olympiad, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France
The Summer Games, KMAC Museum, Louisville, KY
The Swimmer, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY
Mercury Rising, Bookstein Projects, New York, NY
2023
Who’s Afraid of Stardust? Positionen queerer Gegenwartskunst, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, GER
MY WORLD PLAY, Haverkampf Leistenschneider, Berlin, GER
Homestories, Galerie Haas Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
The Farnsworth at 75, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME
2022
When in Maine, Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami, FL
2021
Tangerine, Acquavella Galleries, Palm Beach, FL
Any Distance Between Us, RISD Museum, Brown University, Providence, RI
Potent, curated by Nicasio Fernandez, Harper’s Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Equal Affections, curated by Edwin Oostmeijer, Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam Netherlands
Different Strokes curated by Marcus Jahmal Almine Rech Gallery, London UK
Float, Fly, Transcend Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, AL
Women of Vision, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME
It’s All About Water, The Storefront, Bellport, NY
Six Hot and Glassy, Tripoli Gallery, Wainscott, NY
Friend Zone curated by Vaughn Spann, Half Gallery, New York, NY
Sleep | Katherine Bradford, Lenz Geerk, Aubrey Levinthal, Norbert Schwontkowski | Haverkampf Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Dear John, James Castle and his Influence on Contemporary Artists, Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR
Reflections: Human Nature, Gana Art, Seoul, Korea
A Wild Note of Longing: Albert Pinkham Ryder and A Century of American Art. New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA
2020
‘Dieu Donné Benefit Exhibition’, Brooklyn, New York, US
‘Carpenter Center for Visual Arts’, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, US
‘A Wild Note of Longing: Albert Pinkham Ryder and a Century of American Art’, New Bedford Museum, New Bedford, MA, US
‘Never Done: 100 Years of Women in Politics and Beyond’, curated by Rachel Seligman and Minita Sanghvi, Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, US
‘Gallery Swap’, Philipp Haverkampf, Alice Folker Gallery, Copenhagen, DK
‘Dog Days: Ryan McGinley, Katherine Bradford, Jack Pierson’ Launch F18, New York, NY, US
‘Online Exhibition’, curated by Chris Martin, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, UK
‘Katherine Bradford, Hulda Guzmán, Rebecca Ness’, Alexander Berggruen Gallery, New York, NY, US
2019
‘Art Purposes’, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME, US
’15th Annual Thanksgiving Collective: What Have We Done?’, Tripoli Gallery, Wainscott, NY, US
upcoming: ‘Garden’, Shrine Gallery, New York, NY
‘Canada b/w Drag City’, Soccer Club Club, Chicago, IL
‘Occupy Colby’, curated by Phong Bui. Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine
‘Away in the Hill’, Grimm Gallery, New York, NY
JTT Gallery NYC, Condo New York with Adams and Ollman, Katherine Bradford, Vaginal Davis and Geoffrey Mitchell
‘Downward Flower’, curated by Adrianne Rubenstein, Fourteen 30, Portland, OR
‘Dance With Me’, curated by Kyle Staver, Zurcher Gallery, New York, NY
‘Nurikabe’, Tetsuo’s Garage, Nikko, Japan
‘Heat Wave’, Philipps Auction, London
‘Downtown Painting’, presented by Alex Katz, Peter Freeman, New York, NY
‘Go Figure!’, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY
‘Big Ringer’, curated by Andrew Guenther, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY
‘Manifest Content’, Campoli Presti, London, UK
‘Girl Meets Girl: Rose Wylie, Katherine Bernhardt, Katherine Bradford, Caroline Chandler’, Choi Jager Gallery, Cologne
‘Notebook’, curated by Joanne Greenbaum, 56 Henry, New York, NY
‘The World According To’, curated by Andria Hickey, Pace Gallery, New York, NY
‘Men of Steel, Women of Wonder’, Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AK
‘Pulse’, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, KC
‘I Don’t Believe in Art I Believe in Artists’, curated by Jen deNike, LX Gallery, New York, NY
Brooklyn Rail Collateral Event at Venice Biennale
2018
‘Summer of Love’, Freight + Volume, New York, NY, US
‘Reinventing the Figure’, Monica De Cardenas, Zuoz, Switzerland
‘Redefining the Sublime’, curated by Joel Sternfeld, The Hall Foundation at Gray
Art Gallery, New York, NY
‘Dancing Godesses’, Dio Horia, Mykonos, Greece
‘Intimacy’, curated by Stephen Truax, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York, NY
‘Aporia’, curated by Mary DeVincentis, David & Schweitzer Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
‘Adolescent Rebellion’, curated by Andy Mister, One Mile Gallery, Kingston NY
2017
‘Prospect 4’ New Orleans, U.S. Biennial, New Orleans, LA
‘The Science, Culture, & Art of Superheroes’, Everhart Museum, Scranton, PA
2016
‘Fort Greene, curated by Adrianne Rubenstein’, Venus Over LA, Los Angeles, CA
‘The Great Figure Two’, The Journal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
‘The Female Gaze Part Two: Women Look at Men’, Cheim & Read, NY
‘Make Painting Great Again’, CANADA, NY
‘Hall Art Foundation’, Reading, VT
‘Flowers in Your Hair’, curated by NIGHT GALLERY, fuse space, San Francisco, CA
2012
‘Sky, Sea, Land’, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
‘4 Guggenheim Fellows’, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
‘CMCA Honors Award Exhibition’, Rockport, ME
‘Special Blend, JOURNAL Gallery’, Brooklyn, NY
2008
‘Ambivalent Figuration, Samson Projects’, Boston, MA
‘Shape Shifters: New York Painters’, University of North Carolina, Pembroke, NC
‘It’s Gouache’, curated by Geoffrey Young, Jeff Bailey Gallery
‘Worth A Thousand Words’, Brattleboro Museum, Brattleboro, VT
2006
‘Everywhichway’, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY
‘Searching for Love and Fire’, David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL
‘Sized Up: LargeScale Paintings’, Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
2005
‘Invitational and Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture’, American Academy of Art and Letters, New York, NY
Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant
Guggenheim Fellowship
American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, New York, NY
American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Brooklyn Museum, NY
Smith College Museum, MA
Bowdoin College Museum, ME
Farnsworth Museum, ME
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, PA
Bates College Museum, ME
Addison Gallery of American Art, MA
Worcester Museum of Art, MA
Portland Museum, ME
Kunsthalle Emden, Germany
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.
