Adger Cowans: Footsteps

About

Bruce Silverstein Gallery is pleased to present Adger Cowans: Footsteps, an exhibition of the artist’s photographs from 1955 to today. Featuring over thirty vintage and modern prints, Footsteps is the artist’s first solo New York gallery exhibition since 1985. Adger Cowans (b. 1936), has experimented with a myriad of mediums over his artistic career, ranging from fine art photography to abstract expressionist painting. His photographs exemplify the attentiveness of a curious onlooker with great affection for the visual offerings of the world; a quality that would define his works throughout his career. His work has recently received critical attention having been featured in the groundbreaking exhibition Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop. A native of Columbus Ohio, Adger Cowans was one of the first to earn a degree in Photography from Ohio University in 1958. After moving to New York City in 1958, Cowans took a job assisting Gordon Parks at Life Magazine, while he continued to define his own style. Parks would become a life-long friend and a supporter of Cowans, later referring to him as “one of America’s finest photographers.” While living and working in New York City during the early 1960s. Cowans was recruited by James Ray Francis to become a founding member of The Kamoinge Workshop. Cowans also joined the highly influential African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AfriCobra), which was founded to use identity and style as tools to promote solidarity among the African diasporas. Cowans’ paintings stood out due to his interest in abstraction. Cowans describes the act of photographing: ‘When I take a picture, I feel it. When you get that rush of feeling inside of you of ‘I have it. I felt it’.’