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Adam Mysock
Distorted Perspectives

2019

About the Item

After: Jan Veth’s “Portrait of Cornelia, Clara, and Johanna Veth” from 1885. ADAM MYSOCK was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1983 - the son of an elementary school English teacher and a lab technician who specializes in the manufacturing of pigments. On account of a steady stream of folk tales from his mother, his father's vividly dyed work clothes, and a solid Midwestern work ethic, he developed an interest in painting and drawing all things Americana from a very early age. Mysock earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Art History by 2004 from Tulane University. He then received an MFA from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. STATEMENT I’m a revisionist history painter. Rather than rewrite the narrative of the past to justify an ideology, I repaint yesterday’s imagery in order to rationalize our present circumstances. Telling stories is a part of human nature; it’s how we relate to one another. The stories we have in common help us create sincere connections to our neighbors and our surroundings. What’s more, storytelling – for better or worse – typically involves hyperbole. We tend to exaggerate; we tend to lie. Generally, we believe we control our narrative embellishments. What gets exaggerated from one telling to another gets exaggerated to challenge our listeners. What gets repeated, gets repeated because it resonates with them. What gets omitted gets left out because it’s lost its meaning. We actively use embellishment to keep our audiences engaged. Given enough distance, however, sources and accuracy fade out and substitutions become the new norms. Quietly, time redefines what is truth and what is fiction. As a painter, I’m preoccupied with the undeniable role that the image plays in creating this acceptance of the fictional. A painting has the authority to make the intangible concrete, and a series of them has the ability to authenticate a fabrication in our collective memory. When I begin a piece, I typically start with preexisting images, artifacts from this collective remembrance. I look for images that shape my pictorial consciousness, that is hard to question because when I first saw them they were presented as the truth. They have to capture my imagination and they have to feel largely descriptive of a greater story. From them, I’m given my task – I have to “disrepair” them. I have to consolidate an earlier world of historical and cultural visual-fact with an evolving understanding of subtlety and gradation. I find that the discrepancies I discover between the absolute and the nuanced inspire me most. The resultant work is largely about storytelling, the ownership and authorship of our culture’s visual narratives, and the parallels between those tales. It’s meant to challenge the truth of “source” and the source of truth. After all, as Franz Kafka once wrote, "It is hard to tell the truth, for although there 'is' one, it is alive and constantly changes its face.
  • Creator:
    Adam Mysock (1983, American)
  • Creation Year:
    2019
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 6.06 in (15.4 cm)Width: 7.38 in (18.75 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New Orleans, LA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU10524730611

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A Tutor
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A portrait of Kellyanne Conway While the statement for this show indicates that there are no formal teachers of proper lying technique, it doesn’t deny that there are individuals ou...
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An Automated Message
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A Platform
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A portrait of Ted Turner, founder of CNN and by extension a 24-hour news cycle I’ll blame everything wrong with America on Ted Turner. Don’t misread me – h...
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A Horrifying Self-Actualization
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From Thomas Eakins’ Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), 1875 At some point the lying has to stop, right? But when? I’m no longer convinced that any external stimulus...
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A Fool
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From Jan Matejko’s Stańczyk, 1862 I’ve heard that in centuries past, the jester – or fool – was often one of the only people able to speak truth to power. Because of their inherent ...
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A Willing Ignorance
By Adam Mysock
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From John Singer Sargent’s Gassed, 1919 When considering the factors that are required (or at least helpful) for a lie to succeed, I constantly look to the audience. I constantly tr...
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