No Absolutes
Contemporary Art from the Region
October 8, 2000 - January 7, 2001
Catalogue Essay - Bob Adams
Bob Adams
Bob Adams uses materials associated with cute, colorful hobbies and collectibles
for girls rather than with paint. Adams uses sticker papers of pastel
tones, psychedelic holograms and eye-fooling patterns, cutting and moving
the stickers around in a process that he relates to moving paint on a
canvas. If you look beyond the pattern and gloss of the paper, his work
is grounded in an interest in abstract painting. These unusual materials
applied in painterly fields explore the similarities between high and
low forms of visual culture.
Adams has long been interested in materials and formats that have multiple levels of meaning and understanding. His earlier work of silhouettes - like the ones we all made in grade school - were profiles of stereotypical figures from 1950s textbooks in suits and hats. In his new work, Adams continues the use of simple symbols, such as the CBS eye or the familiar smiley face from the 1970s, and asks why certain images are immediately recognizable and omnipresent. Whether it is the smiley face or the Mona Lisa, a product of graphic design or art history, we are drawn to certain images and seek them to decorate our lives.
The broad iconic images in Adams’ work become systems for organizing an abstract composition, as does the structure of his word drawings. On the wall in the gallery, Adams has created a drawing of connected words, beginning in the middle with “dildo” and “Deadalus.” Adams begins with these two differing words and then lets the drawing flow from his unexamined thoughts. For each viewer, the drawing reveals unplanned connections and meanings between words.
Adams’ work encompasses seeming contrasts. The sticker paper refers to both macho car culture and girlish grade school binders. The words in the wall drawing range from the sacred to the profane. Adams participates in a fine art tradition and sensibility while using materials connected to popular crafts and design.
Heather Sealy Lineberry
Senior Curator
Arizona State University Art Museum
Return to the No Absolutes exhibition
For more information contact John Spiak at spiak@asu.edu.
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