Dove Bradshaw

Bradshaw was included in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860–1989, a solo exhibition at Senzatitolo Associazione Culturale, Rome, inclusion in Elements at The Chemical Heritage Museum, Philadelphia for The Year of Chemistry 2011.

Dove Bradshaw (born September 24, 1949) is an American artist known for her diverse works.

She has crafted chemical paintings that dynamically interact with the atmosphere, erosion sculptures made from salt, and stone sculptures that evolve over time due to weathering.

Additionally, Bradshaw has explored the utilization of crystals that receive radio transmissions, including weather data from both local stations and shortwave signals, as well as signals from radio telescopes monitoring Jupiter.

Her notable mid-career exhibitions include:

Bradshaw's work has gained recognition by being included in the permanent collections of various prestigious institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery in the United States, the British Museum in Europe, and the Russian State Museum (Marble Palace) in Russia.

She regularly participates in international exhibitions and has notably contributed to events such as the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea.

She has also held solo exhibitions, including one in Tokyo.

Dove Bradshaw was born in New York City.

She graduated from the College of General Studies, Boston University, and received a BFA from the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts/Tufts University.

She has had residencies at:

Taking inspiration from the work of composer John Cage, Bradshaw allows natural forces to act upon her works.

Her first work in this regard was a 1969 installation entitled Plein Air, in which a pair of mourning doves were introduced to hanging bicycle wheels and floor mounted targets.

Other ways in which her work has incorporated indeterminacy into its nature are the chance positioning of work, the use of materials particularly susceptible to weather and indoor atmosphere, the gradual erosion by water of salt and stone, and the use of inherently unstable substances such as acetone, mercury, and sulfur.

One of her ongoing indeterminate works is Performance.

An early survey, Works 1969–1984 was shown at Syracuse University, Utica, New York in 1984.

In 1976 Bradshaw “claimed” a fire hose in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

She mounted a guerrilla wall label beside the hose, and placed copies of a self-published postcard in the museum shop.

Bradshaw has had three mid-career exhibitions: Dove Bradshaw 1988–1998 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Dove Bradshaw, Form formlessness, 1969–2003 at City University of New York; and Time Matters 1969–2008 at the Pierre Menard Gallery, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

She is represented in the permanent collections of numerous museums in America and Europe, including one in Russia.

She also regularly exhibits internationally.

Anastasi, Bradshaw, Cage, Marioni, Rauschenberg, Tobey: Imitating Nature in her Manner of Operation, Sandra Gering Gallery, 1991; 8 Painters:

In recognition of her claim, an official museum postcard was issued of the work in 1992, and in 2006, Dadaist collector Rosalind Jacobs acquired the label placed by Bradshaw.

Anastasi Bradshaw Cage Cunningham, curators: Marianne Bech and Dove Bradshaw, The University Art Museum, The University of California at San Diego; Anastasi Bradshaw Cage Cunningham, curators: Marianne Bech and Dove Bradshaw, The Bayly Museum, The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia; 2001; Anastasi, Bradshaw, Cage, curators: Marianna Bech and Dove Bradshaw, Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, Denmark, Anastasi, Bradshaw, Cage, Marioni, Rauschenberg, Tobey, Sandra Gering Gallery, New York, 1990; 8 Painters:Jon Abbot, William Anastasi, Dove Bradshaw, Dana Gordon, Bruce Halpin, Carl Kielblock, Theodoros Stamos, Douglas Vogel, The Ericson Gallery, New York, 1981

Originally not conceived as art, this work began with a gift of a pair of Ring-necked Mourning doves and led to the design of their environment.

The doves were given free rein of the artist's studio.

2005

In June 2006, Bradshaw was commissioned by Baronessa Lucrezia Durini to execute Radio Rocks as a permanent installation in Bologna.

Galena and pyrite tuners continuously draw local, shortwave and outer space signals echoing the Big Bang.

In the fall of 2006, sponsored by Shu Uemura of Shu Uemura Cosmetics, she traveled to Asia for the first time exhibiting in Tokyo's Gallery 360°.

For the 6th Gwangju Biennale in South Korea she presented Six Continents, with salt taken from each of the continents.

Jacobs donated this piece to the Metropolitan Museum, who accepted the piece as part of their permanent collection in 2007.

Bradshaw's fusion of scientific exploration with art practice has been incorporated into the Process and Art/Science Movements.

In this vein she made the chemically activated silver Contingency Paintings that are sensitive to atmospheric conditions.

Weather serves as a catalyst slowly capturing transient metamorphoses in what she calls Time Sculptures in marble, pyrite, calcstone, and copper, in the Indeterminacy, Material/Immaterial and Notation Series.

In the Negative Ions, Six Continents and Waterstones works, Bradshaw plots the gradual erosion of salt and stone with water as the transformative agent.

Time is the counterpoint.

She has said “Poetry is everywhere evident and therefore one only need present materials.”

She has curated four group exhibitions in memory of Sol LeWitt, ONE at Bjorn Ressle Gallery, New York, 2007, ONE More at the Esbjerg Art Museum, Esbjerg, Denmark, 2008 which was rebuilt for Thomas Rehbein Gallery, Cologne in January, 2009 and ONE, Six Americans/Six Danes Stalke Up North, Copenhagen, 2009.

In May 2008, Larry Becker Contemporary Art in Philadelphia hosted the first gallery installation, which added a live reception from radio telescopes of storms and other radio emissions from the planets.