BRICK
BRADLEY
FOAM ARTIST
Artist Statement
I used to make lots of really heavy sculptures out of farm implements, tools and junk I might find. It was fun, but it all got to be a pain trying to take my work to shows or deliver a piece to a buyer. I said to myself, “What could I sculpt in that wasn’t so heavy?” I thought about several things but came up with an idea one morning while I was shaving. Shaving Cream!
Now, I know what you’re thinking… shaving cream is temporary. Once you sculpt it, its gone in just a few minutes. Well, you’re right! But, what if I could sculpt in shaving cream but make it permanent? So, I got in touch with a company that could 3D scan my sculptures and carve them out of Styrofoam. That is how I make temporary art into permanent art. The sculptures appear the same as if I had just sculpted them and they are very lightweight (which was just what I was looking for!).
I love presenting these seemingly delicate sculptures as solid, artistic pieces. The fascination that people find in these works, once they discover that they are solid pieces, is very satisfying.
Brick Bradley Bio
Brick Bradley is a native Okie and grew up east of Noble, Oklahoma. Brick earned a living as a farmhand and sometime auto mechanic but his real passion was for sculpting. Brick worked in wood and metal often making sculptures out of discarded farm implements. Soon, though, his work got so heavy that he couldn’t lift them anymore and trying to haul them to art shows was just too much work.
As a result he hit upon the idea to sculpt in much lighter materials. Initially he tried plaster, cardboard, and even paper, but soon thought of a material that he worked in as a child… a material that he hadn’t seen any other sculptor working in. That material was shaving cream.
Brick gathered several different brands of shaving cream and began sculpting, using different tools such as spoons, knives, chopsticks and his hands. The results were fun and interesting, but the end results were way too temporary. To solve this issue Bradley turned to modern technology. He found a company with a 3-D scanner and Styrofoam sculpting machines. Brick does his shaving cream sculpting onsite at their facility and they take it from there, scanning and cutting out his designs. Once this is done Brick will sand and paint each sculpture by hand to his specifications. Now, though his sculptures still appear to be made of shaving cream, they are quite sturdy and can be as large as eight feet tall.
Exclusively his good friend, Kevin Stark at Stark Art Gallery in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, handles brick Bradley’s sculptures.