Access a slow-looking exercise of this work.

Transcript
This work by Mark Bradford from 2001 is titled "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." Mixed media on canvas, the work is 6 feet tall by 7 feet wide.

The canvas surface is covered with small rectangles of tissue-like paper, each about 3 by 4 inches. The papers are endpapers, translucent tissue papers used in the hair salon. Each rectangular endpaper has darkened edges, appearing burnt. While some papers are white, others are yellow; each is dyed with a slightly different saturation. Because these papers are translucent, the layering of them accumulates color, creating white sections and light yellow sections which transition into more concentrated sunny-yellow sections. With their burnt edges, each form evokes a rectangle with a thin, dark outline.

The rectangular papers are layered like roof tiles: slightly overlapping to form long rows and columns across the entire work. The rows and columns aren’t precise, though; they sometimes stretch or tighten, their burned edges forming an imperfect, allover grid. In some areas, the rectangular form gathers as if stamped repeatedly. Some endpapers are further accentuated with white or yellow paint on top of them. This creates an overall effect of a patterned, lyrical artwork.

The transparent endpapers reveal collaged elements beneath or on top. This work also includes "décollage"; the leftovers of paper in blues and pinks that have been ripped off the canvas. We also see evidence of printed or stamped numbers. A vertical word in faded gray reads “Business.”

Bradford salvages most of his materials from public sites and small businesses in South Central Los Angeles. Using these as tools for art-making, his works also hold the physical remnants of the public, cultural, and commercial life of South Central L.A.’s African American communities. From a young age, Bradford worked in his mother’s salon. Bradford’s early work often incorporated the tools of his trade, including these singed permanent-wave endpapers, cellophane hair color, and human hair.

The delicate colors create a sense of intimacy and even nostalgia. However, this large-scale work’s burnt materials and compulsive, labor-intensive process also hold the violence of culturally mandated beauty regimes. Though the composition is abstract, the materials evoke elements of Bradford’s personal narrative as well as the social and political significance of hairstyling—especially hair straightening—in the Black community.

The endpapers covering this canvas surface remind us of their material fragility as well as their ability to protect hair. How do the other paper remnants covering this surface suggest fragility and impermanence as well as strength and power?

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