portrait by Angela Dufresne

Bradford Nordeen is a writer, curator and the founder of Dirty Looks. He is currently the Mellon curatorial fellow for The Horror Show at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, opening September 26, 2026. His books include Because Horror (with Johnny Ray Huston), Check Your Vernacular, Dirty Looks at MoMA, and the Dirty Looks Volume I-IV series (editor). His writing is anthologized in Little Joe ane SLUTS. Nordeen has also written for Artforum, Frieze, Art in America, Afterimage, and Butt Magazine, and was a 2018 recipient of the Creative Capital / Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. Prior curatorial positions include Platinum Programmer for Outfest Los Angeles, and guest curator of public programs for the inaugural season at The Broad Museum. Nordeen holds a BFA from CalArts and an MA in Contemporary Cinema Cultures from King's College London. He is currently a PhD candidate in Film and Digital Media at University of California, Santa Cruz developing the dissertation Analog Tendencies: Offline Queens who Made Queer Scenes.