Mark Bradford: Exotica

Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong presents ‘Exotica,’ a major solo exhibition by Mark Bradford that navigates the concept of ‘otherness’ through a formally innovative body of work.

Consisting of around 20 new paintings, the exhibition extends Bradford’s study of figuration through the use of a signature staining technique, which uses caulk to create shadow-like imprints on the canvas. These forms inject the artist’s layered compositions with a trace of fantasy and strangeness.

The exhibition is anchored by a group of paintings centered on the agave plant, a monocarpic variety that blooms only once at the end of its lifecycle. Drawing inspiration from a 1970s’ encyclopedic text that catalogued ‘exotic’ plants from a Western perspective, this new body of work considers how we imagine, internalize and project a sense of ‘otherness’ onto which we may be able to name, but have not understood.

The exhibition at Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong coincides with Bradford’s first solo museum presentation in Germany at the Hamburger Bahnhof–Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart in Berlin (6 September 2024 – 10 March 2025).