Bradford Overton is a Salt Lake City, UT based artist with a prolific career, exhibiting for nearly two decades multiple bodies of artwork. Overton likes to play the role of the trickster in art and life. The trickster or jokester is an energy he cultivates – intentionally balancing the typical sobriety of art with a touch (or wallop) of humor. “Once you have established beauty in your artwork, the philosophy I am enjoying right now is finding the humor…because without humor you are just suffering,” Overton says.

With Overton’s Vintage Toy series we get a sampling of his humor – all titles are taken directly from iconic rock song names ie: ‘Gimme Shelter’ or ‘Janie’s Got a Gun’ or ‘Against the Wind.’ With technically masterful attention to detail, Overton renders a naturalistic depiction of his subjects. The vintage toys are made of lead – chipped, petite but solid, and jewel-like; originally manufactured, molded and painted on an assembly line by hand by factory workers. With misaligned paint-jobs and unignorable casting mold seams, these bought again/sold again, forgotten objects reemerge under Overton’s eye with the child-like levity and metaphysicality intended from the bygone curio. The objects themselves have amazing character with form and gesture resembling figures from a Botticelli painting – and to paint a still-life of an already strangely painted mass-produced and forgotten object as a large monument allows Overton to invite his art-lovers to play again.

The toy figurines range from downhill skiers to cowboys and Indians. “Many artists edit Western history to icons instead of our real dark history - creating a fantasy based on reality. But it is good to be mindful of our very real history when ‘playing cowboys and Indians” instead of our romanticized Americana leanings,” says Overton. Overton’s ironic take on his subjects can both conjure a magical connection with our youth while complicating our contemporary relationship with our present history.

American Art Collector, June 2019, Feature Article
Western Art & Architecture Magazine, "The Philosopher's Palette" June/July, 2016
American Art Collector, July 2015
Fibonacci Fine Arts Digest, December 2014, Featured Article
American Art Collector, May 2014
Cover, Catalyst Magazine, March 2011
Springville Museum of Fine Art, Exhibition Catalog, 2010
American Art Collector, December 2009
Utah Style and Design, Spring 2007
Utah Homes and Garden, Summer 2003
Southwest Art, December 2002
Cover, Catalyst Magazine, December 2002
Salt Lake Magazine, June 2001, Featured Article

Paris Hotel: Las Vegas, Nevada
Bernardo Flores-Sahagun
Law firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer
McGinn, Carpenter, Montoya & Love, PA; Albuquerque, New Mexico
Stein Erickson Lodge, Deer Valley, Utah
Katherine Heigl
Godwin Cancel Design
Utah Museum of Fine Art, online catalog
Robert Klienschmidt
University of Utah Art Department, permanent collection
James and Tori Magelby
Sam and Diane Stewart
Bill Britt, (Trask Britt, Cambridge, England)
Jeffery Hein