On the Brink - Drawing

Roger Adamson (b.1968, Kent, UK) is a leading figurative line artist exploring the tension between transformation and timelessness, trade and nature, and transitional liminality between epochs. In response to an era of deceptive artificiality, homogeneity, superficiality and endless identical repetition he has embraced the power of the line and the challenge of mastering an unforgiving medium that leaves an artist nowhere to hide. His signature line drawings of the sea, landscapes, ships and people show the influence of Sumi-e, Ukiyo-e, and are inspired by the Utagawa School art of Hiroshige and Hokusai, and in particular the Sōsaku-hanga artists Yoshida Toshi, Kawase Hasui and the Yokohama-e pictures of Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide which reflect and capture the Japanese country and its people experiencing epochal change. Their focus on the quality of the line and its dynamic power to create complexity from simplicity, their egalitarian treatment of subjects and their palpable precision evoke a Japanese and Chinese aesthetic that makes them both high art and handicraft. Demanding discipline, precision, courage and control his pen and ink works are the antithesis of the digital: embodying the tangible and temporal and seeking to distil the essence of universal truths. Working from a studio overlooking the sea in Kent, UK helped and hindered by Frank the studio cat, he travels extensively capturing a world on the brink of epochal change. Exhibited regularly his work has been featured by The Royal Society of Marine Artists (2024, 2025), The Society of Graphic Fine Art (2025), and the 2025 VII London Art Biennale.