Shane Bradford (b. 1971) is synonymous with the application of paint via his ‘dipping’ method, in which various objects, most pervasively books, are subjected to submersion in multi-coloured emulsions. The resulting patterns perform a narrative and conceptual duet with the objects original meaning, rendering the object defunct whilst simultaneously bringing renewal. Shane Bradford’s work bridges the gap between concept and aesthetics.
A certain expansion of this inherent personal duality persists throughout the rest of his practice, which broadens to include large-scale painting, sculpture, and project work. An irredeemable elegance in his abilities as a maker belies an often-challenging socio-political commentary. Typically tracing a path from the personal to the political, Bradford’s work campaigns for the liberation of objects and subjects from their associated fixed meaning and, perhaps comically, the liberation of art from itself.
The title Side-Real Voyage is lifted from a chapter in Jean Baudrillard’s ‘Radical Alterity’ in which the late philosopher/writer explores the possibility of finding the exotic in a globalised world. In fact, the correct title is The Sidereal Voyage but having mispronounced it for a while as ‘side real’, it is hard to go back. The transition from sidereal (si⋅de⋅re⋅al), meaning ‘of or pertaining to the stars’, to side-real, expresses a natural common human error and a small amount of wishful thinking. Side-real describes a certain parallel reality running along side things, almost tangible but allusive; a peripheral vision. From the shadows of Plato’s cave to the current monumental cosmological upheavals, The Side-Real Voyage hints at an ‘otherness’, instinctively known but rarely visualised.