Katherine Bradford's art at first might seem more like a comic strip.
Wait. Give it some time. Observe the man without a face, the translucid water, the feet almost hilariously sticking out, as if everything were all right.
Swimmer, Man (2001)
He is going to drown. He cannot possibly stay floating. There is just something about him. About the blue surface, about his hopeless little figurine body.
Or maybe I'm just influenced by the other paintings. The ones that seem like relics, remnants of body art...
Shaver, Man (2002)
...and the ones that seem transparent, light, happily bidimensional...
trapeze painting (slip) (1998)
...in their portrait of a fall.
I look back at the floating man. He is faceless.