Slamdance audiences will not hear the adage about watching paint dry the same way after seeing Alex Rappoport’s documentary “With Peter Bradley.”
The film, which premieres at the film festival on Jan. 22 at Treasure Mountain Inn, features scenes where Bradley, an 82-year-old former New York City-based artist, creates his unique abstract art by pouring paint onto a canvas to see what happens, Rappoport said.
“Peter’s very much like a little boy because he takes delight in the fact that there is a lot of chance in his artwork,” he said. “Once he throws paint down on the canvas, he always wonders where it will go, and what would happen if leaves or rain falls on the canvas.”
The aptly named documentary is also a captivating history rundown of the abstract art community in the late 1960s and early 1970s with Bradley as guide.
Bradley, who now lives in Saugerties, was on the trajectory of being a household name, said Rappoport, who served as the film’s director, cinematographer, editor and producer.
“Peter’s a singular figure in what he was able to achieve, particularly as a black man in the ‘60s and ‘70s in the art world. But for whatever confluence of reasons — racism, not least among them — he wound up here, the home of so many creative refugees,” he said.
In addition to prejudices, Bradley’s career came to a halt when color field painting fell out of favor by the 1980s, according to Rappoport.
“That has kind of come back around full circle at the right moment for Peter,” he said. “He hung on, stuck to his creative guns and never lost his incredible work ethic after all of these years. He had a lot of incredible work that was piled up on his living room floor and waiting for his audience. So he was ready when the knock came to the door.”
“With Peter Bradley” details the artist’s work before the knock came two years ago when he signed an exhibit agreement with Karma Gallery in New York’s East Village, Rappoport said.
“I recorded the before story, just before it became the before,” he said with a laugh. “At that time he was still painting for painting sake, because that’s what he does.”
Rappoport was introduced to Bradley by Robert Langdon, who runs Emerge Gallery in a small storefront space dedicated to Saugeraties artists.
“I asked Robert to introduce me, after my wife and my daughter told me I needed to look at this guy,” he said.
Abstract artist Peter Bradley, above, engages in a conversation during the 1970s. The artist is the subject of Alex Rappoport’s
documentary “With Peter Bradley” that premieres Sunday at Slamdance.
From the first few minutes of the introduction, Bradley was ready to make a film, Rappoport said.
“Robert must have told him about me, because Peter said we could start once I went home to get my camera,” he said with a laugh.
Rappoport was taken by Bradley’s trust.
“The entire time, Peter never put restrictions on what I filmed,” he said. “There was never any question he wouldn’t try to answer the best he could, and he most certainly never made any suggestions creatively in the filming or editing. In fact, he’s been my biggest fan the whole time from the very first long rough cut.”
Rappoport was also struck by Bradley’s candor throughout the filming.
“To a large degree there is no filter in a conversation with Peter,” he said. “He’s very opinionated. He has that arrogance that many artists, particularly male artists of that generation had. I almost had the sense that I knew him, and although he’s still happy for me to visit any time, my biggest regret is I don’t have the excuse to go over there with a camera.”
Bradley’s adoptive mother cultivated his love for art and creativity, Rappoport said.
“She adopted him when he was an infant, and adored him,” he said. “She doted on him and gave him that strong sense of exceptionalism.”
While some parents will sit down with their children and suggest piano lessons, Bradley’s mom gave him a pad of paper, pens and brushes and told him he needed to paint every day.
“She also welcomed many jazz musicians into her home, which fed Peter’s love of music,” Rappoport said.
Some of those musicians include Art Blakey and Miles Davis.
“Peter becomes this almost zelig like, mid-century cultural connection with the famous musicians he knew to the famous artists and celebrities he met through being associate director of Perls Galleries at that time,” Rappoport said.
During his time at Perls Galleries, Bradley got to know Paul McCartney, Edward G. Robinson, Greta Garbo and Bette Davis, to name a few.
Because of his position at Perls Gallery, Bradley was asked by businessman, philanthropist, and art patrons John de Menil and his wife Dominique to curate a 1971 exhibit at the defunct De Luxe Theatre in Houston.
The exhibit, known as the De Luxe Show, was the first truly integrated modern-art exhibit in the United States, according to Rappoport.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t get any attention because it took place in Texas,” he said. “And until now, it’s been only art history scholars who recognize it. And it’s been the subject of research as an important moment in American modern art.”
Rappoport took two-and-a-half years to edit more than 40 different days of interviews to create “With Peter Bradley.”
“I just tried to create a little pattern where we go in and out of Peter’s creative process with chapters of his life, until the 1990s, when he arrived in Saugerties,” he said. “And then I was able to get some great editorial notes from a number of very smart filmmaker and editor friends.”
Rappoport is honored “With Peter Bradley” is premiering at Slamdance.
“I think it’s a really good fit with this film, because that punk-rock, do-it-yourself ethos is part of the DNA of this film,” he said. “I don’t know what to expect, but I’m encouraged by the response, because I had hoped that this would be a film where you don’t have to be into art to appreciate it.”