Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York
Acquired by t♑he present owner from the above in 20🌸04

Riverside, University of California, California Museum of Photography, Broad Territories: Images of Identity, April - July 2004

This work is in very good condition overall. The collaged elements are stable and secure. There are a few areas where the extreme edges of the collaged elements lift slightly. All other surface inconsistencies appear inherent to the media and the artist's intent. Under ultraviolet light inspection there is no evidence of restoration. Unframed.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Celebrated for his prodigious, multi-layered abstract paintings, Mark Bradford expands the possibilities of contemporary painting while offering an individual examination of urban society in the United States, and specifically of the predominantly African American neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles, where the artist works. Bradford incorporates found-materials such as remnants of billboard posters, magazines and newsprint as well as perm endpapers - a material used in straightening of African-American hair which references the hair salon that Bradford's mother owned and where the artist worked growing up. These materials, which he describes as having "an inbuilt history" are collaged to create dense, visually complex compositions that are seemingly abstract but laden with content. Lined against each other in rows, the endpapers and found materials, as in the present work, I Track You Down Like a Low Jack, form an elegant, and somewhat archeological grid that alludes to the history of modernist painting.

Bradford simultaneously nods to Robert Rauschenberg's use of the readymade object in his Combines with the use of his found objects, to the Abstract Expressionism with his physical craft-based processes and swirling compositions and to the work of Agnes Martin structuring many of his canvases with a grid-like composition. At the same time, the artist pushes the limits and possibilities of abstraction, utilizing a color palette in the present work which pairs a spectrum of flesh tones with a blue and green combination that is evocative of a map or landscape. With carefully edited color and unique materials indigenous to African-American culture and the diverse landscape of South Los Angeles, Bradford deftly encompasses both social critique and formal innovation. The artist further references urban spaces and his experiences all the while making bold references to pop and commercial culture with his precise titles. Music has been a source of inspiration to the artist throughout his career, and he often gives his works evocative titles that allude to 1990s hip hop or other musical sources, the present work's title, I Track You Down Like a Low Jack, lifted from Method Man's song "Even If." Bradford's 🉐paintings allow us to participate in a dialogue with the histories that precede his work and to engage in the discourses that occur within our own cities.