Atticus Adams

Flora Contempo Spotted

Atticus Adams' organically composed modern metal sculptures embody the transformative power of contemporary art, illustrating the creation of beauty, meaning, and emotional impact fr...

The sunflower and the bouquet is an idea that has been floating around in the artist's head for years. It starts with the notion of the still life, the most basic subject when approaching visual art. It's the attempt to look at that which is full of life, yet by acknowledging its existence, one understands that beauty is temporary and will fade. This series starts with the flower, the symbol of fleeing beauty. By taking this character and turning it into a cast object, the artist has turned it into an icon, further removed from reality by bleeding it of color. The sunflowers then become beautiful shadows their former selves, as dying coral becomes enticing when it bleaches. They are elegant reminders of their past, whilst also becoming new figures that reference archaic notes of classical beauty expressed monochromatic hues. STATEMENT In the end, gravity always wins. It is the blunt, immutable force that has a constant effect, keeping us on the ground and ultimately pulling us into it. Sculpture by its very nature is in conversation with this pull, at times enjoying and acknowledging it, and at times trying to hide and defy it. My work recognizes the force of gravity, sometimes tacitly and sometimes overtly. It is a practice of mixing the delicate with the ordinary. I have been mining the contrasts of sculpture, relishing the materiality while also attempting to address the ephemeral. Because sculpture is so heavily rooted in the ground, one has to accept its materiality. Yet, some of the most effective work I have witnessed is that which attempts transcendence. It is that steady push and pull between mass and lightness, solidity and absence, form and void. Additionally, I am drawn towards familiar objects and associations that are embedded within them. Current work makes reference to visual anchors such as bodily forms, sagging, or bloating. Whether the product is a still life created in Scotch tape or a bouquet composed of plaster flowers, I look to the fantastic as a goal in my work. The work is intensely representational in content but without clearly assigned meaning, thus creating a disquiet. In this way I think in a surrealist vein, looking to traditional figures like Eva Hesse and Piero Manzoni, and contemporary figures like Robert Gober and Matthew Barney. The juxtaposition of the seemingly simple streamline objects with this disquiet adds a powerful force to the work, again symbolic of the contrast between the emotional life which defines us as humans and the compulsions and minutia that compose our daily lives. Joe Davidson

Criswell's standing sculpture emerged from a study of spatial organization by arranging basic, repetitive shapes into a harmonious balance, while exploring the concept of simultaneou...

Criswell's standing sculpture emerged from a study of spatial organization by arranging basic, repetitive shapes into a harmonious balance, while exploring the concept of simultaneou...

Atticus Adams' organically composed modern metal sculptures embody the transformative power of contemporary art, illustrating the creation of beauty, meaning, and emotional impact from industrial materials. Using mostly aluminum mesh—generally found in screen doors, windows, and filters—he creates contemporary abstract sculptural artworks and installations, which resemble flowers, clouds, and other natural phenomena. Working in metal, Adams effortlessly transforms rigid material into airy, effervescent artworks. This 48-inch high by 44-inch wide and 4-inch deep metal sculpture is a lightweight form. It is created from aluminum and copper mesh, gesso, acrylic paint, and wire. It has metal rings affixed on the back which allows for easy installation. Atticus works spontaneously, feeling his way toward the objects that take shape in his mind as he shapes them almost entirely by hand. Free local Los Angeles area delivery. Affordable Continental U.S. and worldwide shipping. A certificate of authenticity issued by the art gallery is included. Atticus grew up in West Virginia, steeped in traditional folk art. Several members of his family are self-taught artists, deeply involved in such crafts as wood carving and quilting. His formal art training includes stints at Yale, Rhode Island School of Design, and Harvard’s School of Architecture. Atticus has fond summer memories of screened-in porches back home and screen doors that practically dissolved the barrier between inside and outside, allowing the warmth and nature to permeate each day. This association continues to resonate in his art. “Metal mesh is a beautiful, flexible material that allows you to explore shadow and transparency in endless ways,” he says. “The material lends itself to these biomorphic shapes, which aren’t necessarily intentional . . . The sculptures seem fragile but are actually quite resilient—like nature itself.” A well-known sculptor, the organically inspired artworks of Atticus Adams are held in public and private collections and are exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States. REPRESENTATION Artspace Warehouse, Los Angeles, USA SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2021 Seeking Sanctuary, Zynka Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA 2021 My Hydrangea Kingdom By a Bird Bath Sea, Pittsburgh Botanic Garden, Pittsburgh, PA 2018 There’s a Pink Poodle in my Arcadia, The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA Summers of Green Apples with Salt, The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA 2016 Mesh Werks, Desert Art Collections, Palm Desert, CA 2015 Shapes & Forms, Desert Art Collections, Palm Desert, CA Mesh Lab: The Experiments, The Mine Factory, Pittsburgh, PA 2014 Arcadia, BE Galleries, Pittsburgh, PA 2013 Summertime, BE Galleries, Pittsburgh, PA 2013 A Joggling Board...

Atticus Adams' organically composed modern metal sculptures embody the transformative power of contemporary art, illustrating the creation of beauty, meaning, and emotional impact fr...

Atticus Adams' organically composed modern metal sculptures embody the transformative power of contemporary art, illustrating the creation of beauty, meaning, and emotional impact fr...

Atticus Adams' organically composed modern metal sculptures embody the transformative power of contemporary art, illustrating the creation of beauty, meaning, and emotional impact fr...