Drivin’ n Cryin’
Bradley Milligan
October 24th - October 26th, 2025
Installed at Stay Frosty: part art fair/tailgate/site specific installation in a parking lot in Harlem, NY
Produced by by BravinLee Programs
“If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.” — Steve Smith, The Red Green Show
In a leaf-strewn patch of grass sits a 2005 Dodge Caravan—humble in appearance, yet layered with memory and meaning. Originally purchased in 2012 from his late grandfather, Roulof Oosteeven—a lifelong bike racer, dealer, and self-proclaimed “shyster.”Oosteeven, notorious for selling bikes at double their listed price (even to family), passed down a spirit of grit, hustle, and Dutch stubbornness—qualities now embedded in every dent, ding, and scratch.
Today, the van doubles as Milligan’s fabrication hub, often seen loaded with 2x4s, pedestals, and an eclectic mix of tools, cassettes, CDs, wood dust, and moving blankets. It evokes the chaotic charm of Peanuts’ Pigpen: less a vehicle, more a traveling character study. Propping up the back hatch is one of Milligan's artworks, made from scrap wood and joint compound, titled Dutches Bicycles (We Fix Anything but Broken Parts)—a tribute to his grandpa's old bike shop sign. A bike tire crowns the piece, whose tombstone-like shape feels both memorial and mischievous. It exemplifies Milligan's signature process: casting large slabs of plaster, breaking them apart, and constructing wooden frames around each fragment in a collage of joinery techniques.
Walking around the van reveals Milligan’s handiwork in full effect. He’s repaired dents in the bumpers using his own resourcefulness: the back bumper—damaged when a friend borrowed the van—has been patched with wood, while the front bumper, dented by a city pole in Bloomington, Indiana, bears a faux-marble finish. The passenger-side rearview mirror has been replaced with a plaster replica; in its reflection appears a hazy landscape from a foggy memory. The rear passenger sliding door has been replaced with a wooden door, complete with a canvas window. Inside, the roof has been reupholstered in woodgrain fabric, and soft-sculpture beer cans rest among the wreckage—a humorous, lived-in touch.
Milligan’s van is what happens when a handyman turns his practical skills toward his personal vehicle: part sculpture, part sanctuary, part scrapyard.This (semi)reliable family heirloom now serves as a mobile sculptural installation: equal parts utility and personal archive.
Bradley Milligan is a painter and builder from Maryland's Eastern shore. He received a BFA from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2018 and an MFA from Boston University in 2021. He is a three time recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields foundation grant. The work is in the permanent collection of the Evansville Museum in Indiana, and of Penn West University. In 2023 he and two other artists founded the short lived project space, Outlet. He is currently a curator-member at Below Grand, and is the co director of 95 gallon gallery. Milligan’s work has been shown in New York with Soloway, Greene House, 4D, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Below Grand, and Pop Gun.