Mark Bradford (1961- ) is an American painter known for his abstract painting and his multimedia pieces where he affixes paper to canvas. Bradford’s large works engage in mapping and interrogating social and political issues affecting marginalized communities. His work has been described as “social abstraction”, an understanding that the use of materials he uses precedes their artistic purpose. ⁠Many of the materials he uses are discarded from cities in Southern California.  Bradford received both his BFA and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in 1995 and 1997 respectively.