Paige Bradley’s (b. 1974) powerful sculptures of dynamically posed figures showcase more than just physical strength and passion — they testify to the inner strength and fortitude woven into the fabric of a person’s soul. Her own personal experiences are the starting point for Paige’s work, and she then uses her skill, intuition, and sensitivity to build these stories out into universally understood creations. The unseen and often unspoken dichotomies one encounters in life — joy and sorrow, dissonance and harmony, weakness and strength, ugliness and beauty — become powerfully alive in Paige’s sculpture, as she is an artist who has the rare ability to turn abstract feeling into three-dimensional form.
Working in the figurative genre, Paige’s sculptures are anything but relics, antiques, or pastiches of figuration past. Rather, her works combine iconic media and uncommon skill with modern thought, philosophy, and psychology, speaking in the currency of our contemporary culture. Paige is also known for eschewing stylistic rules and parameters of any kind, which has kept stagnation far from her studio. In looking at the variety of thought-provoking work she has produced over her 25-year career, one can see how this mindset continues to serve her creative diversity: some of her figures sit strong and grounded in outdoor spaces; others float delicately in suspended compositions; others are sturdily wrapped in silk while stretching toward freedom. Although she primarily casts in bronze, Paige’s artwork also encompasses painting and charcoals, woodcuts, iron-bonded resin, aluminum, mixed media, or any other material she feels helps communicate her message.
As a successful female sculptor in the 21st century — a time that is seeing women joining together, speaking out, and standing up in unprecedented numbers — Paige remains an artist of singular self-assurance and conviction, choosing to focus on feminine strength, empowerment, and the ability to overcome. “I did not struggle in the same way that my ancestors did, but I’m still subject to many inequalities and unnecessary hardships,” says Paige in the video she posted on International Women’s Day. “And I’m stronger because I learned to fight, overcome, and triumph. My artwork is about this: the hiding and emerging. The trusting, connecting, and the releasing. Allowing vulnerability. The birthing and the nurturing. Learning to love openly and to crack myself open to find the brilliance within. I hope my journey can inspire others and at the least show the world that a woman who is a wife, a daughter, and a mom can still be an artist who can shake preconceived paradigms. Once we find our unique voice in life, it is not complete until we pay it forward.”
* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 15th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.
