John Blee's review of Adam Bradley 2004 exhibit at Fraser Gallery

"Adam Bradley at the Fraser Gallery"
By John Blee
Art Wrap
The Georgetowner
May 2004
Adam Bradley plays forcefully and fearlessly in his moving sculptures at the Fraser Gallery (1054 31st St. Tuesday – Friday 12-3 p.m. and Sat. 12-6 p.m.) that literally move.

It is Klee’s twittering machine I think of in "Dandelion" that is the rarest moving sculpture in that its dance is worthy of a choreographer.

"Sappho at the Cliff" depicts Sappho throwing herself off the cliff. Sappho is a wisp of hair and torn cloth, and has a lyre made out of safety pins and a nut. It is an amazing transformation -- cute but somehow it embodies a reverence for the great poet. We know Sappho mostly in fragments and Bradley’s fragments somehow are enough to convey some of her great passion.

Bradley’s art works while it is still as well. It is the freshness of his juxtapositions of found objects that make his sculptures lively and compelling. His work is exceptional in its daring scope and in its bravura delivery. Through May 19.

"Reprinted with permission from the Georgetowner"

Art Wrap

Out in Bethesda, some have complained about the show at the Fraser Gallery (7700 Wisconsin Ave. Md., Tuesday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m.) of Scott Hutchison's paintings of nudes. Catriona Fraser was given some rare (for a local gallery) television coverage, and she was asked to call back if someone threw a brick through the window. So far everything seems to be resolving peacefully, and the paintings of nudes are far from the pornographic (that they are accused of), and very much in the large-scale painterly tradition related to Al Leslie and Phil Pearlstein. Controversy has always enriched the whole modernist tradition of art and it is hoped that proves to be so here.