Charlotte Russell Reviews Betsy Bradley: ‘Catch her work while you can, it is anything but static.’
Charlotte Russell reviews Betsy Bradley’s first solo London exhibition at Vardaxoglou, for FAD magazine.
“Nestled away in a quiet backstreet removed from London’s vibrant Soho is Vardaxoglou Gallery. Housing the first London exhibition by Midlands-based painter Betsy Bradley, the crisp pops of neon that zing and zap across her work appeared to have bounced over from the adjacent streets; having gently caught some respite within this small, brilliant white, tranquil space, just a moment’s throw from the capital’s party quarter.
Bang! The first painting in Betsy Bradley’s latest exhibition erupts in a fit of pigment and gesticulative passion. Swathes of mauve dance and swish in the foreground, as an explosive blur of spray paint and pencil jostles beneath it. Scratch, scratch, scratch. Move your eye across the room to a smaller work, where canvas has been gnawed away by a spindly object, leaving sharp flecks of teal and cobalt blue, all of which appear to bleed out into the fabric the closer you approach it.
To summarise Bradley’s work is to secularise something that exists beyond vocabulary. Amongst the waves of pastel, lashes of neon and layering of organza is a visual language that exists beyond the medium itself. Reading between the lines is as important as conversing with the shapes and colours themselves here, for Bradley’s work is as much about the absence of matter as it is the inclusion of it.”
