When in Rome: New work by Bradley Wester
April 21 – June 5, 2004
Artist's Reception: April 21, 6-9 pm

Bruno Marina Gallery is delighted to present When in Rome, a solo exhibition of recent work by Bradley Wester. On view will be paintings, digital drawings and collage that Wester created while a visiting artist at The American Academy in Rome.

Wester mines the stationery store for his source material— cheap, colorful labels and stickers that he transforms into complex abstract formations. With this limited vocabulary of simple shapes and lines he constructs a surprisingly wide range of compositions with multiple references including Japanese Anime, the Modernist grid, computer circuitry, the geometry of mandalas and architectural plans. Exploring their formal qualities Wester transforms common stickers and labels into unique works of beauty that at the same time offer a blithe commentary on a society obsessed with labels.

In Rome, Wester worked almost exclusively with Italian labels, and the work he made there uncannily mimics the baroque style of his surroundings. The Roman works include visual references to Borromini’s San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane, and to so-called ‘grotesque’ ornamentation.

When in Rome is the artist’s first solo exhibition at the Bruno Marina Gallery. Wester’s work has been included in numerous exhibitions at New York-area galleries and at museums and exhibition spaces throughout the US including: The Drawing Center of New York, Artists Space, The New Jersey State Museum, New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center, the Newark Museum, the Mississippi State Museum, and The Madison Art Center. Wester is a 2003 recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant. A native of New Orleans, he lives and works in New York City.


Bruno Marina Gallery was founded in 2003 by Rico Espinet. Located on a vibrant strip of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, the gallery’s program is a lively mix of exhibitions by emerging and mid-career artists. The gallery is open Thursday through Monday from 12 to 6 pm. To reach it by subway, take the F to Bergen Street or the A, C, or G to Hoyt-Schermerhorn. For more information please call the gallery. 372 ATLANTIC AVENUE BROOKLYN, NY 11217 PH. 718.254.0808 brunomarinagallery.com