Heather Elizabeth Garland reviews the recent exhibition Katherine Bradford: Shelf Paintings at Arts+Leisure, New York.

Garland writes that: "Each painting from the beginning of the show to the end is thoroughly felt in three dimensions, offering detail from all views with front and center being the ultimate read. This gives the work a performative feel with shelf as stage and objects as actors. The best seats may be front and center, but there are also interesting and complex views from stage left, and the orchestra pit. Even as we are the viewers, however, the paintings with their frontal protrusions seem to be viewing, and reflecting upon themselves… The most fantastic thing about the shelves, and accretions of objects in each piece, is how integrated they are with the paint. Just as one might choose a punchy red or an upward brush stroke, the collected objects and their placement in these paintings are equally important. "