Bradford
Nelson Elliott was born in Duala, Cameroon, lived as a child on
several Caribbean Islands and did much of his schooling in a
Westchester suburb of New York City. Bradford studied acting at
HB Studio in Greenwich Village. He took singing lessons with
Floyd Worthington and Lillian Cutler. He also studied jazz at
Georgetown University. Universal Pictures took interest in his
acting and offered him a contract.
As a child
Bradford had a big interest in the horror movies of 1950s and
1960s. The Creature of the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein, The
Werewolf, The Mummy and countless others gave Bradford hours of
enjoyment. These images from the movies are sometimes
incorporated into the subject matter of his artwork. Another
subject that plays a role in his work is things with wheels,
automobiles and motorcycles. The sports car represents a sense of
power, speed and freedom to him, and they are usually bright
colors.
The way
Bradford does his art is to wait for the inspiration to carry him
through the design. When he attempts to do a design and he sees
that it is not coming out as he intended, he will stop and abandon
the piece. Other times he can work on a piece and will know that
the piece is worth finishing. He loves colors and tries to make
the pattern of varied colors come together to form an image of
self contained balance.
Here below are 12 of his incredibly dynamic
intuitive drawings:
