I was going to say Steve Bradford's photography, but the truth is, it looks like photography, but in fact it's painting. Paint on canvas if you like. It's the type of art you rarely see and tells you how talented the artist is. It took me 20 or 30 minutes, to figure it out and even so, I had to ask the gallery lady, to be sure. You can check out my first [post](https://peakd.com/hive-194913/@erikah/art-at-the-highest-level-sv699d) about the exhibition, if you missed it.

Steve Bradford is an English artist, who's living in Romania now and had a solo exhibition not long ago. Lucky me, I was able to visit the exhibition and now I want to show the wonderful paintings I saw. 

![20250408_115035a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23ywqErduw5URyK5WbNF2cLmps5ZChCoRuaGt7vXZZ4LS8uXtMZ7vJXnCe6axC56a1H6e.JPG)

*Empire* 

I hope if you zoom in, you can see the texture of the canvas and see it's not a photograph. We have a lot of photographers that are very good at shooting monochromes and most likely this is a scene they would be happy to capture, but to paint it, like it would be a photograph, it's a totally different level. I love the theme and how the artist played with the shades.

![20250408_115056a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23xKvd8roh4ZfS26aNLAhEzbuRtrp29wB2uaZupbWghvBGPSXC9oiLu7ze85bstsr8ADN.JPG)

*Sleeping Gas* 

The most important question I had in my mind was, if the artist had a photograph to work with, or this scene was just in his head, or he had a model. My bet is on the photograph, as it seems the most suitable in my mind, but who knows? What do you think?

![20250408_115120a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23yd5rrfx92SikmD51KPgfLzjbV5scACD5bK4wx4XkDbu9mYNYG97bvAp2FyzdENibAJ9.JPG)

*All that is not hole, must be edge*

![20250408_115127a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/EprV6xvfa2FovzYa347vkof3tXjVG7koctTCvf79ccMA8t5xqqovN9hW9BXbhb6wKfK.JPG)

I took this close-up photo partly to know the title of the painting, but also to show you the white gesso, or paint on the black canvas, but wait, there's more. 

![20250408_115139a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23u6BZiDj2SwpjKvnWN2TQ6P1yf4KtFgNbgM1z39RPnTQCfEXaR2NQrjbFH5XJXVWockC.JPG)

This clearly proves we're talking about paintings. You can see the pencil draft and the texture of the canvas. I'm wondering if the artist left those lines visible intentionally, or it's just a coincident?

![20250408_115151a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/2423whdwzHTFHvhJbExdAL8CsL6QPGKW1fLf8BbQ3U5yvqHbKcu6Ef8wULQDm3JrPgfpC.JPG)

Back to the painting, I love the idea of looking at the model through a torn paper. Imagine reproducing this is real life and taking a photo. It would be nice to see how you would set up the light, so the highlighted area to be the model. 

![20250408_115209a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23wX1RFQpDSjeSjPtLrdY1ZCjXiu5sZGXgabri8eGYZfWAmxNnK6BS6ukyVh2aaMxiaeT.JPG)

*Amewsment Arcade*

This was a bit of a puzzle, but not unusual. I've seen similar paintings, but not like this one. Most likely would not choose it to hang it on my wall, but I value the originality, the vision and the talent of the artist. It has its uniqueness for sure. 

![20250408_115230a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/EpA3VzbCsKkscLf1vcVKeGHpv2aiXgtDVMbvvgkpVXNhWin8vy7zhTjV3RkprgYtSHv.JPG)

*Cannonball & Musket* 

![20250408_115252a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23xp8Z17WjPskrEJGvcWUttXDNgZCjPbDDsWNfGtK9EYjBTNs2YsKDj5EuBZiAnej8n35.JPG)

This time I'm going to stay silent, say nothing about this painting and let you tell me what you see and what you think the artist meant here. Let's play this game :)

![20250408_115310a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23x1FfybAbpENSRWvZ4JvHdS7AGJ957yzHvWmp78eavaN36Le8s67z9Rs4HLCVpKo4onq.JPG)

*Damn Damnation*

He sure knows how to pick the titles :)

![20250408_115318a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23wgN8oeFZ8P5zxCjeUh1WwiWDdoa45ZBcHU6e1oXGC1PVDXYHSyrcnsQfKe1c7jPaF8D.JPG)

Here you can see how big these paintings were. Definitely not for an apartment wall. 

![20250408_115419a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23wMebnmWNfyydE9DHqm2zMjwLqavHyiNj9Bt7wzrW7SkaNQz3WHhWnZd9rm2jnobM6dT.JPG)

*Space-Man*

The funny thing is, I know these are paintings, but I still judge them as photographs and here i can't stop thinking about how the artist decided to focus on the foot, which is in the foreground. We do that in photography, as it's easier to make the camera focus on what is closest, but painters rarely do that. 

![20250408_115503a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/Eokf4z9wkCDSC5CK2AkCgfz22wbcGzXN1v6TpM8hfgKawymcKvjuq1MvQPYGboYMvhG.JPG)

*Celtic Heart* 

This one is scary and makes me uncomfortable. From artistic point of view, it's brilliant, but it's scary. 

![20250408_115520a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/242Y7X58C5j8fvEwaTbb6XQBsKuDWV46bA6ErG7qMv8HJSUMxwDzwDNiB3PW1oXqVNxTG.JPG)

 
![20250408_115544a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23wMguMFVP2X2mgrEtgEAfd8iePaZ5nNhqDnKp7DghK2dnufZWvuWppvT4gcfUMMipBbt.JPG)

*45 RPM*

... aaaand, ladies and gents, this is my absolute favorite.

![20250408_115624a.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erikah/23zGgSfA4h3eVDTphtEpBEhGWiR4i4WpoThmev2D43fonThBpjJxBuRHnwTSGv7Wy32AL.JPG)

If this is not brilliant, then I don't know what is. I don't think I need to say more here, but I'd like to know what you think. 

<center><img src="https://images.hive.blog/DQmfDaSmTz3y8oavngRrr5mmVhrTXheYoEU4qhGUS7pq3xh/HiveDivider.png"></center>

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