Brad Downey grew up in a United States Marine Corps family.
10 Facts About Brad Downey
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Brad Downey initially became known for transforming public signage into artworks, which he, at first anonymously, installed in public space disguised as a construction worker.
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In 2007 Brad Downey was awarded SEEDA Arts Plus award for a commission with the Tour de France.
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In 2008, Brad Downey sprayed green paint on the shopping windows of Berlins historical KaDeWe mall, which the owners reported to the police as an act of vandalism.
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However, Brad Downey had been contracted by the Lacoste clothing brand for an exhibition at KaDeWe celebrating the 75th anniversary of the brand, and he maintained that he was just fulfilling his contract.
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In 2009, Brad Downey was commissioned to paint a mural for the Leuphana University of Luneburg.
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Brad Downey's mural generated controversy because it looked exactly like an advertisement for the fast food burger chain McDonald's.
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In 2019, Brad Downey orchestrated the creation of the first public sculpture of Melania Trump, the wife of the 45th American president Donald Trump, in her home country, Slovenia.
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The sculpture, which was actually designed and created by a local artisanal artist with a chainsaw, was received with mixed reactions, due in part to Brad Downey having done no physical work on it.
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Brad Downey has exhibited in venues such as the Museum Tinguely Tate Modern, the ICA in London, and Mass MOCA in the USA, Peacock Visual Arts, in Scotland, Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche in Osnabruck, Kunstcentret Silkeborg Bad, in Denmark.