Excavating the '80s Painting

Robert Dewitt Adams is originally from the Washington, DC area, and lived in the Pacific Northwest 1996 - 2011. Currently in Jacksonville, he is adjunct faculty at the University of North Florida. He earned his MFA in 2007 from the University of Oregon. His work has been included in exhibitions around the U.S. and internationally, including shows at the Seattle Art Museum Rental/Sales Gallery; the Jacobs Gallery and DIVA in Eugene; the Viridian Artists Gallery in Manhattan; the Saville Gallery in Cumberland, Maryland; the Roseville Arts Center in Roseville, CA; and Galleria Vasari in Citta di Castello, Italy. Guest jurors selecting his work have come from institutions such as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, as well as from galleries including Elizabeth Leach in Portland, Howard House in Seattle, and Charles Cowles in New York. Images of Robert's work have appeared in the Eugene Weekly, Seattle Weekly, Art Access, and Artweek magazine. His cartoons and illustrations have won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. In addition to teaching at Lane Community College, Robert also served as Art Director for the Community Center for Performing Arts (Wow Hall) in Eugene. He collaborated on set design with Eugene's Ballet Fantastique for its Hult Center performance Visions d'Amour. ARTIST STATEMENT I began making photocopy collage art in high school, inspired by the do-it-yourself "˜zine culture. While taking my parents' advice and majoring in science at American University in Washington, D.C., I also took art classes. Growing up near Washington in a military family was a good place to learn cynicism and an interest in relationships of power. An alternate and more positive perspective on the world was provided by the Smithsonian's art museums, in particular its collections of pop art and the Washington Colorist school. The paradox of humanity's potential for creativity, measured against its penchant for ignorance and cruelty, continues to intrigue me. Folk artists inspired me to paint, in their ability to make beautiful creations out of the overlooked and the everyday. I began using pop imagery after a conservation corps job fishing colorful trash from streams.