A Seattle resident, Caplis was born in Michigan and educated at the University of Virginia in Fine Arts.
Brad Caplis grew up in sleepy tourist towns in Michigan, where his only exposure to art was the board game Masterpiece. His favorite paintings were the Van Gogh self portrait and Grant Wood’s American Gothic. It wasn’t until attending the University of Virginia for an undergrad degree that he experienced his first art class. He enjoyed the class so much he eventually double majored in English Literature and Studio Art. He planned to become a medical illustrator after graduation.
When that opportunity did not materialize, he took a job learning custom picture framing and continued to dabble with painting as a hobby. In 1996, Bradley moved to Seattle and began assembling a portfolio in hopes of showing in Seattle.
His first show was at the Artemis Gallery in 2001. The following year he began his 23 year relationship with the Gunnar Nordstrom Gallery, showing continuously there and also at the Roz Gallery in White Salmon, Washington and later The Pines Gallery and Tasting Room in Hood River, Oregon.
Bradley has had more than 20 solo shows and his work is in many private and corporate collections. In 2008, he was included in the Invitation Exhibition of Contemporary Art in Shenzen, China. In 2009 he was selected as the Governor’s Mansion Foundation’s Artist of the Year with 16 of his paintings on display in themansion’s gallery in Olympia.
Bradley’s work focuses on cheerful and playful subjects with the intent of expressing apowerful and nurturing existence.
