Derrick Adams. Float

About

With a nod to cultural perseverance, the display gives perspective to the creative output and outlet of Black America as a reaction to the joys and struggles of just being.

Adams' seriocomic approach is achieved through a series of figurative mixed media painting-collages and installations. A spread of twenty pool-lounging figures, better known as the “Floaters,” traverse the gallery, where they function both as individual vignettes and as a nonlinear narrative. Each floater is a swath of deep blue acrylic on paper that incorporates collaged elements of vivid African prints and other graphic textiles depicting swimming pool scenes of figures in states of rest and play on inflatable and whimsical pool floats.

African heritage and American nationalism are central to the conversation taking place and the works explore this relationship, offering not only a commentary on the joy of the present  but also, presenting a direction for the future.

Derrick Adams is a multidisciplinary New York-based artist. He received his MFA from Columbia University and BFA from Pratt Institute and is an alumni of the Skowhegan School and Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program. His awards include a Louis Comfort Tiffany Award, S.J. Weiler Award, and an Agnes Martin Fellowship.