Making a Mark

Our LA photography team is more used to shooting Hollywood celebrities than artists, so when we arrived at Mark Bradford’s studio – the kind with paintings, not photography backdrops – they were like kids in a candy shop, ogling the supply closet, bothering the assistants and, gasp, touching the multimillion-dollar paintings (hey, Bradford was doing it, why not us?). The lauded artist was as amiable as he comes across in interviews, joking and bantering with us, and trading college anecdotes with lighting assistant Sean – who, it turns out, went to CalArts with Bradford. Big artist, small world.