Artless d’Vine with Gregory Adamson, Thursdays, February 4 – 25, 5 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Box Lunch with Gregory Adamson, Thursdays, March 3 – 24, 12 noon – 1 p.m.
For more information, visit www.riversideartmuseum.org
Riverside CA – The Riverside Art Museum (RAM) proudly presents artist Gregory Adamson as he immerses audiences in a sea of interactive creativity as part of his exhibit, Backward Forward and Upside Down: Gregory Adamson, a Ten-Year Beginning, running January 16, 2016 – April 25, 2016. He will be an artist-in-residency and has organized a series of Exhibit Happenings in February and March.
Artless d’Vine with Gregory Adamson
Thursdays, February 4 – 25. Start with a no-host happy hour bar from 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., then stay for a free activity/discussion:
- February 4: Stay for Artswalk ’til 9 p.m. to vote on the theme of Gregory’s next art piece.
- February 11: “The Tortured Artist: Myth vs. Reality” panel discussion.
- February 18: “Who Gets to Call it Art” panel discussion.
- February 25: “The Business of Art” panel discussion.
Box Lunch with Gregory Adamson
Thursdays, March 3 – 24. 12 noon – 1 p.m. Bring your own lunch and enjoy demos/lectures with the artist. Free.
“As the Riverside Art Museum works to present accessible opportunities for creating dialogue and participation, we are so excited to work with Gregory Adamson,” says Drew Oberjuerge, RAM Executive Director. “Adamson believes in our new direction wholeheartedly and has been integral in shaping it.”
Gregory Adamson is a renowned Southern California artist who has gained domestic and international acclaim for his mesmerizing, fast-paced art performances, where he paints to music with bare hands or brushes, creating huge masterpieces in just minutes. His subject matter includes historical leaders, sports legends, music icons, and other pop culture celebrities.
In 2006, Gregory Adamson launched his performance painting career, Facing the Music, and 10 years later we are looking back at his creative journey, both as a performance artist and studio painter. His performance art has lifted his public profile, taken him halfway around the world, and distributed his work widely. Those paintings and other resulting commissioned works are in major corporate and private collections from Hawaii to New York to China. From the auction of his performance paintings at the events where they were created, Adamson’s work has also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charitable organizations.
There has been a different, yet parallel, path for Adamson and that is his studio practice, which has evolved over the past 10 years from highly representational to increasingly more abstract and expressionist. These works are contemplative and follow Adamson’s journey of discovering and embracing his personal iconography. He is obsessed with process, color, shape-making, and textures. He has ventured deeper into those themes and utilized the process as a therapeutic departure from his performance work, while also expressing experiences of his private life through metaphors and ambiguous figures. This is particularly true of his smaller mini works, which he describes as visual stories, yet there is never an obvious resolution. He wants the viewer to find their own story in the work. He believes that all of his work is an examination of life itself, whether a celebration of culture, music, friendship, and new love, or a darker side of betrayal and love lost.
Perhaps the most revealing aspect of recent works as forbearer of his future is his experimentation with mixed media and three-dimensional forms. He is increasingly interested in alternative materials having the potential to take his work in directions that are not necessarily focused on painting. We see hints of that future in this collection.
The Riverside Art Museum integrates art into the lives of people in a way that engages, inspires, and builds community by providing high quality exhibits and art education programs that instill a lifelong love of the arts. RAM relies on the generosity of members and donors to support its exhibitions, education programs, and special events. A 60-plus-year-old, private, non-profit cultural arts institution housed in a National Historic 1929 building designed by Hearst Castle and AIA Gold Medal-winning architect Julia Morgan, the museum welcomes over 50,000 visitors a year. The museum is open Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, 12:00 noon – 4:00 p.m. For information on exhibits, events, classes, memberships, or sponsorship opportunities, visit www.RiversideArtMuseum.org. Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/riversideartmuseum), Twitter (RAMRiverside), Instagram (@riversideartmuseum), and Pinterest (www.pinterest.com/ramarts).