Mark Bradford is renowned for his large-format compositions made from multiple layers of paper. His unique artistic language expands traditional painterly techniques, ­especially in the context of abstraction. His art tends outward, toward the social fabric of the ­present day. Through an alchemical process of adding, stripping away, and manipulating ­material, Bradford creates his own sites of archaeological excavation, which reflect the distinctive energy of his method while making clear reference to the social reality of Los Angeles. His materials include torn commercial posters printed with text, end papers traditionally used in hairdressing, and everyday supplies from hardware stores. Bradford collects materials from his neighborhood, as if gathering traces of social proximity, then processes them with tools including grinders, sanders, and power washers. For his first TEXTE ZUR KUNST edition, the artist has created a new “Merchant Poster” – continuing an ongoing body of work that transforms localized advertising posters that target low-income communities so as to render visible the needs of a neighborhood’s society and economy. Here, the phrase “JOHNNY BUYS HOUSES” is taken from a commercial poster, which holds out the promise – dubious, no doubt – of “cash now.” Bradford personifies the unidentified “Johnny” as a specter of capitalism who preys upon the vulnerable. The edition draws an explicit connection to Bradford’s monumental three-canvas work from 2023, “Manifest Destiny,” which takes its title from a 19th-century US ideology that paved the way for state dispossession of Indigenous lands. The work thus creates loose associations between this history of displacement and contemporary housing crises.