Episode #022: In this film, Mark Bradford describes his quest for the perfect materials while creating his 2006 mixed media collage "Ridin’ Dirty" in his Los Angeles studio. "I always say, well, what I need is not here," says the artist. "So I just have to make myself available to the universe. So I start walking, looking for paper, looking for the right paper. I’ll know it when I see it."

Mark Bradford transforms materials scavenged from the street into wall-sized collages and installations that respond to the impromptu networks—underground economies, migrant communities, or popular appropriation of abandoned public space—that emerge within a city. Bradford's work is as informed by his personal background as a third-generation merchant in Los Angeles as it is by the tradition of abstract painting developed worldwide in the twentieth century.

Learn more about the artist:
http://www.art21.org/artists/mark-bradford

VIDEO | Producer: Susan Sollins & Nick Ravich. Camera: Bob Elfstrom. Sound: Ray Day. Editor: Monte Matteotti. Artwork courtesy: Mark Bradford.