Painting — Peter Bradley

'Fruit Machine (I)', 2025, Mixed media collage on plexiglass and MDF, 84 x 56cm

'Fruit Machine (II)', 2025, Mixed media collage on plexiglass and MDF, 84 x 56cm

'Fruit Machine (III)', 2025, Mixed media collage on plexiglass and MDF, 84 x 56cm

'Fruit Machine (IV)', 2025, Mixed media collage on plexiglass and MDF, 84 x 56cm

Superficially these works speak about fashion. Fashion is layering, structure, and texture. Fashion is irreverence, colour, and camp. But fashion is also an important tool for gender affirmation, and often the most accessible. In this collection Bradley has confronted their understanding of masculinity and of their own identity by celebrating the unlimited possibilities for gender presentation we see in the world today. Using found imagery as a reference and incorporating transparency, reflectivity, and flat sculpture has allowed the artist to abstract the image to the point of ambiguity. The absence of the figure has evolved the work from figurative to narrative. Representing both nobody and anybody simultaneously.

'Always & all ways', 2025, Mixed media collage on plexiglass, 120 x 105cm - As a young person Bradley absorbed the message that a queer life is a lonely one. This painting is a direct letter to that younger self, showing them that everything will be ok. There are no grand statements, no extravagant gestures, just a queer couple experiencing joy together in an otherwise average domestic moment.

Sensation - Connection - Hedonism - Moment - Community - Feeling - Movement - Joy - Expression - Family - Liberation - Photo credit: Eugene Langan

'Pink Triangle I', 2025, Oil on panel, 150 x 85cm

'Pink Triangle II', 2025, Oil on panel, 150 x 85cm

'Pink Triangle II', 2025, Oil on canvas, 150 x 85cm

'Lavender Boy', 2025, Oil on canvas, 105 x 160cm - The items assembled in this still life tell the story of a queer person growing up in Ireland in the 1980s and 90s. A story of confusion and a story of resilience. When discussing gender identity today we often hear disingenuous cries of concern for children whose impressionable minds are being confused by a bombardment of potential identities. This painting speaks to Bradley’s reality of finding it far more confusing and damaging to have been presented with only two options, neither of which worked for them. They recognise that this dysphoria forces queer people to become more introspective and has come to view this as a privilege. One that is perhaps not bestowed on everyone, but coupled with a recognition of the queers who came before us has shaped them into the creative they are today, ever evolving. Like Oscar Wilde’s green carnation just not yet in full bloom.

'Boy with horses on the seashore' 2024, Oil on aluminium panel, 15 x 21cm - This painting features a self portrait of the artist as a young child, innocently unaware of how their life was about to be affected by shame. How their interest in things that were not deemed appropriate for young “boys” to be interested in would create so much confusion for much of their life. Conversely, this confusion was to evolve into an obsession with gender and a lifelong creative investigation of identity. Silver lining.

'Petrichor' 2023, Oil, acetate, Gloss gel, plexiglass, MDF, 91.4 x 63.5cm

'Street Fighter, but make it fashion' 2024, Oil acetate, plexiglass, MDF, 91.4 x 63.5cm

'Come to know yourself' 2024, Oil, acetate, mirror film, plexiglass, MDF, 91.4 x 63.5cm

'A journey with Red' 2024, Oil, Fabriano, Rhinestones, Glitter, Plexiglass, MDF, 120 x 78.5cm

'Draíocht' 2024, Oil, Fabriano, Epoxy resin, MDF, 135 x 65.5cm

'Kaleidoscope' 2024, 91.4 x 63.5cm double sided, Mixed Media collage on Plexiglass - Part of the collection "Kaleidoscope" which was presented with the Galway International Arts Festival 2024 - Kaleidoscope is a showcase of new mixed media figurative work from Galway based artist Peter Bradley. Inspired by the diversity of creative identity in his hometown, Bradley has combined traditional methods of painting, photography, collage, and flat sculpture with a modern formalist construction to harness light and shadow. Mirroring how our personhood is composed of intersecting elements, these works are presented across multiple layers. Each layer is a painting in itself, presenting an element of the subject’s identity while also having an influence on the subsequent layers. These constructs create a layered story of the subject, highlighting the complexities that make up who we are as well as commenting on our perception of identity as a concept. Using layered transparency, light, and reflectivity in his work has allowed Bradley to analyse the relationship between the viewer, the work, and the environment. If the movement of the viewer has an effect on their perception of the piece then they become part of the work, unique in that exchange. The perceived effect of their actions on the work is designed to make the viewer think about how our actions affect those around us.

Photo credit: Marc Jennings

'Diaphonous' 2024, Oil, Acrylic, Dichroic film, Plexiglass, MDF, 91.4 x 63.5cm

'Festoon' 2024, Oil, Acrylic, Acetate, Mylar, Plexiglass, MDF, 91.4 x 63.5cm

'Gossamer' 2024, Oil, Acetate, Matte film, Plexiglass, MDF, 91.4 x 63.5cm

'Why do I hate Red?' 2023, Mixed Media on layered plexiglass & MDF, 91.4 x 63.5cm

'Alannah', 2022, Oil on canvas panel, 115 x 77cm

'AJ', 2022, Oil on canvas panel, 105 x 81cm

'Withholding', 2022, Oil & Pastel on paper,70 x 50cm

Untitled, 2022, Oil on panel, Approx 140 x 100cm

'Fluid', 2022, Oil on panel, Paper, Resin, 107 x 93.5cm

'Freeman', 2021, Oil on Resin, 75 x 69cm

'Virtue II', 2021, Oil on Panel, Perspex, Ink, 148 x 87cm

'Virtue II', Detail

'Modulate', 2021, Oil on Copper, Copper Oxidation, 138 x 92cm

'Virtue', 2020, Mixed media on canvas, 122 x 130cm

'Dandy', 2020, Oil on canvas, 130 x 109cm

'Totem', 2018, Mixed Media on Canvas, 104 x 90cm

'Mystic', 2020, Mixed Media on perspex, 51 x 76cm

'Portal', 2020, Oil on Canvas Panel, 130 x 109cm

'Conduit', 2018, Mixed Media on Perspex, Mirror Film, 76 x 51cm

'Revolution', 2018, Mixed Media on Perspex, 102 x 96cm

'Rapport', 2018, Mixed Media on Perspex,102 x 102cm

'Platonic', 2018, Acrylic on Canvas, 85 x 43cm

'Impression', 2018, Mixed Media on Perspex, 102 x 70cm

'Sonder', 2018, Mixed Media on Cancas Panel, 91.5 x 61cm -Shortlisted for the Zurich Portrait Prize 2018 -Our identities are composed of a number of elements; how we feel, how we look, who we love, and how we choose to present ourselves to the world. A painted portrait is similarly constructed through a selection of fundamental elements; the figure, the environment, the surface, the frame, all relating to each other in a particular way to form a representation of the subject's identity. We understand portraiture by relating it to ourselves, much like we relate to everything else around us. When the expected formula of elements in a portrait has been interrupted or distorted, we are forced to shift our perception of what we are seeing in order to make sense of it. We are compelled to think differently about the subject and our connection with them, but is it possible to understand the lived experience of someone who identifies as a different gender, sexuality, or race to you? Or is that akin to attempting to understand alternate planes of reality? This body of work is a commentary on the perception of portraits and their subjects, and an investigation into acceptance of and respect for what we may not understand.

'Carousel', 2017, Oil on canvas, 112 x 81cm

'Bruja', 2016, Oil on canvas panel, 100 x 80cm - Shortlisted for the Hennessy Portrait Prize, 2016 - Identity, gender, sex, and sexuality are prevalent themes in the work of painter Peter Bradley. Confronting the concept of social constructivism and highlighting the evolution of society’s acceptance of individual expression is what drew Bradley to the subject of this portrait. Recent conquests regarding marriage equality and gender recognition have led Ireland into an age of advanced social change. Despite these advancements, people continue to experience conflict for how they identify. This painting is a statement of how society’s acceptance of difference inevitably changes with the passing times. Centuries ago, women with heterochromia (a difference in eye colour caused by a relative excess or lack of pigment in the iris) were condemned as witches. This image, in its quietly political nature, ignites conversation about acceptance in its viewers.

'Context', 2016, Oil on canvas panel, 122 x 107cm

'Anima', 2015, Oil on canvas, 122 x 122 cm

'Alpha', 2015, Oil on canvas, 122 x 122 cm

'Niche', 2015, Mixed Media on cradled wood panel, 91.5 x 61cm

'Flora', 2015, Mixed Media on cradled wood panel, 61 x 61 cm

'Flourish', 2015, Mixed Media on cradled wood panel, 30.5 x 30.5 cm

'Inner Self', 2014, Oil on canvas panel, 107 x 122cm - From the collection 'Praxis' - 4 of 4

'Personal Honesty', 2014, Oil on canvas panel, 122 x 107cm - From the collection 'Praxis' - 3 of 4

'The Masculine Potential', 2014, Oil on canvas panel, 122 x 107cm - From the collection 'Praxis' - 2 of 4

'Stop Being a Girl', 2014, Oil on canvas panel, 122 x 107cm - From the collection 'Praxis' - 1 of 4 -This body of work examines the diversity of gender as a practiced and performed social construct while also confronting our habitual conflation of sex, gender, and sexuality. Having engaged extensively with a number of subjects through conversation, photography, drawing, and painting the result has been a more profound insight into the complexity of gender presentation which in turn has supported the physical and psychological fabrication of a series of gender identity portraits. This collection is an analysis of gender appropriation, an investigation into identity presentation between and beyond the gender binary and a celebration of those who have the courage to be true to themselves and express who they are. Particular attention is paid to the evolution of modern masculinity and the increasingly widespread acceptance that what makes you male is not what makes you a man.

'Untitled', 2013, Oil on canvas, Dimensions Unknown

'The Warrior', 2013, Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 76cm - Winner of the R.C. Lewis Crosby award for painting, 2013 - From the collection 'Archetypes of Modern Masculinity' - 1 of 4

'The King', 2013, Oil on canvas, 122 x 91.5cm - From the Collection 'Archetypes of modern Masculinity' - 2 of 4

'The Magician', 2013, Oil on canvas, 107 x 107cm - From the collection 'Archetypes of Modern Masculinity' - 3 of 4

'The Lover', 2013, Oil on canvas, 76 x 91.5 cm - From the Collection 'Archetypes of Modern Masculinity' - 4 of 4

'Cat', 2012, Oil on canvas, 81 x 91.5cm