Bubble

Frosch & Co is pleased to announce representation of Brad Nelson, marked by his fifth solo exhibition with the gallery. Bubble features thirteen new paintings by the Falmouth, MA based artist, offering an intimate view of Nelson’s ongoing exploration of the quiet, accidental moments embedded in everyday life. Nelson relies on happenstance to guide the subjects of his work. A bubble forming on the counter while washing dishes, a garbage bag waiting by the back door, cut flowers sent in remembrance of a loved one, or a deflated balloon lingering after a birthday—unplanned instances that surface naturally within the rhythms of domestic life and become catalysts for new paintings. The home he shares with his wife and two daughters provides a continuous stream of unintentional still-life arrangements; scenes encountered rather than composed, shaped by the shared rituals and routines of living together. The paintings in Bubble unfold in three loosely defined parts, suggesting a life cycle. Fragile forms of protection in Bird’s Nest or the bubble paintings suggest vulnerability and care, while the cut flowers in a vase signal support as a life-enhancing measure. Cracked and cooking eggs, deflated balloons and a melting ice cube comprise a second group that reads as a visual plea for support. Finally, there is a garbage bag and dust pile marking the end of the cycle. These are still-life moments with an allegorical glimmer. What is captured are the transitions bound to a beginning, an uncertainty, and an end: a once-inhabited nest unbridles, a neon green balloon deflates, a spring flower wilts. Yet, Gaston Bachelard asks in La Poétique de l’Espace (1957, translated as The Poetics of Space, 1964), “Would a bird build its nest if it did not have its instinct for confidence in the world?” In this body of work, Nelson gravitates toward subjects that, like a bubble, embody vulnerability and impermanence. Bathed in beautiful sunlight, the objects evoke the profound experience of recognizing potential for the first time, yet they remain imbued with an unavoidable sense of collapse and inherent fragility. Presented against the backdrop of the current political climate, these works conceptually echo the uncertainty and delicacy that define our contemporary moment. Falmouth, MA based Brad Nelson received a Bachelors degree in photography from the University of Kentucky, Post Baccalaureate Certificate, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/ Tufts University.