Derrick Adams

Derrick Adams (b. 1970, Maryland) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice is dedicated to exploring the connection between identity and visual language through texture, color and symbolism. Celebrated for his depictions of leisure in Black American communities, Adams demonstrates the impact of American iconography and consumerism on the Black experience, and vice versa. Across a variety of mediums including painting, performance, sculpture and printmaking, the artist embraces pop culture and references art historical movements such as Dadaism and Cubism. His compositions are often collages of layered images and materials, creating fragmented structures and surfaces rooted in Deconstructivist philosophies.

Adams earned his BFA at Pratt Institute and his MFA at Columbia University. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation’s Studio Program. His work has been exhibited internationally and belongs to prominent collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), and the private collection of Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz (California). The artist lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.