Bradley’s infatuation with Joy Division began concurrently with his interest in art. “I had SFMOMA [San Francisco Museum of Modern Art] in my backyard,” says the Bay Area-born New Yorker. “I would spend all my time there studying Clifford Still paintings, Rothko paintings. I was really into Abstract Expressionism. But at home [I had images of] statues and cemeteries, mostly from Joy Division posters, hanging on my bedroom walls.” Bradley, who is 34 and boyish-looking, with shoulder-length sandy blond hair and warm gray eyes, typically wears all black: skinny combat boots, eccentric pants from niche designers, and, this winter, a black shearing aviator hat. Initially, he can come across as moody and sullen, but speaking with him you quickly learn he’s genuine and sensitive. He has an idealistic, if not romantic, notion of the artist’s role, defining his practice as the attempt to reach a goal beyond mere dollars, although he’s quick to acknowledge that dollars make art possible.