Connecticut HQ Art

Derrick Adams is a multidisciplinary artist who closely considers the influence of popular culture on the formation of self-image. His work also questions how African American experiences intersect with art history, American iconography, and consumerism. In this series, he depicts five mannequins with various wig styles that he has glimpsed in his Brooklyn neighborhood.

In formal terms, Adams’ practice is rooted in deconstructionist philosophies related to the fragmentation and manipulation of structure and surface and the marriage of complex and improbable forms. His tendency to layer, hybridize, and collage not only images and materials, but also different types of sensory experiences, link the artist to an estimable lineage of pioneers ranging from Hannah Höch and Henri Matisse, to William H. Johnson and Romare Bearden.

Adams has been featured in numerous solo exhibitions, including at the Gallery in Baltimore City Hall, Museum of Arts and Design (New York), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. Adams’ work has been presented in numerous important public exhibitions, including at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (Cincinnati), Performa, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Brooklyn Academy of Music, “Greater New York” at MoMA PS1, and the Brooklyn Museum. His work resides in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Birmingham Museum of Art. Adams received his MFA from Columbia University and BFA from Pratt Institute. He is an alumnus of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation’s Studio Program.