Bradford J Salamon

Early life

Salamon was born in Los Angeles, California to a creative family. His father Joseph enjoyed painting and his mother Mary Lou loved to write and play piano. His family moved to Newport Beach, CA when he was 2. Salamon learned how to play the drums at 13 and started performing in local nightclubs, schools and churches at 16 with different bands. When he was 18, he did the drawings for the album cover of his band Idle Lovell that was then signed to Blonde Vinyl Records.

Art career

When his talent became apparent, Salamon’s father began publishing charcoal drawings that Salamon was doing of rock and roll stars and other celebrities. Within a few years over 100 subjects were published and distributed to nationwide retailers like Virgin Megastores and Tower Records.

In 1993 at the age of 30, Salamon's fascination with celebrities was fading and went back to school. In his mid-thirties after graduating with a college degree in art and studying abroad, his journey led him back to portraiture. He began painting in oil and was highly influenced by Lucian Freud and Alice Neal. From 1996 to 1999 Salamon was chosen as an official Grammy artist by The National Academy of Arts and Sciences.

In 2003 Salamon's solo show at Square Blue Gallery in Newport Beach, CA called "Orange County Tastemakers" was reviewed by many publications including ArtScene, Orange County Register and Riviera Magazine. The book that accompanied the show also called "Orange County Tastemakers" included essay’s by museum curators and prominent gallerists.

In 2011 Salamon saw an old toy car left in his studio by one of his daughters. Using a new painting technique he realized it was not just a still life that he had painted, but a portrait of the object. Pleased with the results, he began a new series of object paintings that became his main focus along with his continued interested in portraiture.

After Bradford’s move to Los Angeles in 2009, he began painting many LA area artists, curators and galleriests such as Don Bachardy, Andy Moses, Llyn Foulkes and Roland Reiss. A solo show of these portraits is scheduled for the summer of 2016 at Launch Gallery in Los Angeles.

In 2011 Salamon began directing and producing short films about art, artists, gallerists, and critics. Each is a record of how and where each artist works, his or her philosophy and their contributions to art.

In 2013 he had his first solo show in a Museum at the Lancaster Museum of Art with his vintage object paintings. In 2014 he was included in a group show at the Bakersfield Museum of Art in a 30-year survey of portraiture. In 2015 Salamon has a solo show at the Bakersfield Museum of Art with his vintage objects. Salamon’s work is represented by Launch Gallery in Los Angeles, CA, Giacobbe-Fritz Fine Art in Santa Fe, NM, Chris Winfield Gallery in Carmel, CA, Vault Gallery in Cambria, CA and Cole Gallery in Edmonds, WA.