With Peter Bradley

When filmmaker Alex Rappoport met then-79 year-old abstract artist Peter Bradley in early 2020, Bradley hadn't sold many paintings or had a major show in over four decades - yet he still painted every day in a shipping-container studio heated by a wood stove. Over time, Rappoport recorded Bradley’s life story, which occupies a unique and seemingly overlooked place in art history.

The film premiered at the 29th Slamdance Film Festival.

An intimate portrait and study of the creative process, With Peter Bradley is situated entirely at the artist’s rural home and studio. The sole figure on screen, Bradley narrates his life in a series of unscripted conversations, often provocative, sometimes bitter, and full of surprises.

Adopted as an infant, for years Bradley thought musician Miles Davis was his father, which adds dimension to a lifelong passion for jazz, inextricably linked to his creative process, Bradley paints to music, seeing sound as color and translating the sensation to canvas.

Afternoon Inc. handled the film’s typography and title sequence, which appears at the end of the film. Throughout, Director Alex Rappoport wanted the design to reference the canonical Blue Note record covers from the 1950s to the 1970s without resorting to historical mimicry. Franklin Gothic - a font seen 100s of jazz record covers - is used for all captions, serving as a visual unifier across the decades. The title sequence pairs Franklin Gothic and Dharma Gothic with footage of Peter working, pushed to the edge of abstraction.

 

And finally, the epilogue: recently, Bradley has been having critical recognition and is selling his work again. “They’ve gotta make some room for me,” he says.

Is Peter Bradley Ready for Round 2 in the Limelight?
- The New York Times

Director, Cinematographer, Editor and Producer: Alex Rappoport
Executive Producers: Adger Cowans, Robina Riccitello
Consulting Producers: Diane Kolyer, Beth Levison
Composer: Javon Jackson
Music Supervisor: Ed Gerard
Art Direction, Animation: Matt Eller

The wearer of many hats (art dealer, curator, painter, sculptor, musician, teacher), Peter’s story is one worth knowing, full of great anecdotes and historical narratives that reveal a picture of the past that is otherwise still unknown to many scholars and historians

- Terence Trouillot, BOMB magazine