Bruce Adams

Narcissus with Venus Effect

2014

Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...

Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the layers of meaning inherent in making and viewing art. Artist Statement: Though we don’t generally think about it, thirteenth-century religious art actually reflects medieval European perceptions of events that occurred in the ancient Middle East. In the Divine Beauty project I filter sacred iconography through the secular lens of today’s societal perceptions by placing found commercial fashion imagery (from magazines and other sources) in the context of painted religious narratives, producing a clash of ideas that throw both sources into question. Like many Western New Yorkers, I was raised Catholic. I attended a Catholic elementary school, went to church every day. While the indoctrination didn’t last beyond childhood, it did instill a lifelong affinity for the visual traditions of sacred art. But, as the recent economic meltdown has made apparent, conspicuous global consumption has replaced western religion today as the favored path to personal fulfillment. Fashion models serve as the new icons...

Bruce Adams is best known as a conceptually based figurative painter who references various (often historical) painting styles. In exploring the act of painting, Adams peels back the...

Bruce Adams often references historical painting themes and styles in order to throw into relief western tropes in figurative art. Here as part of the artist's series Myths and Lies,...

Oil on paper

Conceptual. Acrylic on canvas. About the Artist: Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Stephen Hall moved to New York in 1978 and began exhibiting his work in the East Village in the earl...

Oil paint on cvanvas Signed lower left

Bruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is includ...