Adam
Veins of Gypsum Mortar
WHAT
Veins of Gypsum Mortar was a group installation, composed and fabricated by artist Victor Briestensky and myself, which took place in July of 2015. This project was developed in collaboration with Ashley, a nomadic exhibition platform whose mandate is to promote dialogue between local and international emerging artists working in Berlin.
HOW
Being situated in different cities, Briestensky and I conceived of VOGM through an exchange of personal research into defensive military fortifications, doomsday bunkers and other structures that premised protection and isolation. This research would assist us in constructing a scenic design for the purpose of presenting personal works alongside six contributors.
WHY
A reciprocal observation of artists working with themes of pessimism, post humanism and precarity, whom reflected our personal interests, laid the foundation for VOGM. Briestensky and I’s primary inquiry with this exhibition was testing how a built environment might bolster or unify the mutual notions and explorations of the artists involved.
Meditations on Poison
WHAT
Meditations on Poison is an ongoing body of illustrative paintings that I am in the midst of developing. These images draw from visual languages of Traditional Chinese Medicine, comic books and anatomical diagrams. This project is first step towards reflections on cultural history, bodily function and cognitive development through an autobiographical lens.
How
The works stem from pencil drawings that have been laser-etched onto birch wood panels. Each panel has been treated with different patinas, including graphite, carbon paper, water-based adhesives amongst other materials. I will mount these constellations of images onto larger wooden sheets, hung in a traditional painting format.
WHY
This project navigates a ground for cultural reflection that I have developed since departing from Canada. Through displacement I can better identify with the experiences of cultural transition, to new homes and to one another, that my mother and father shared as foreigners and their respective relationships to Traditional Chinese Medicine and biomedicine.