George Adams Gallery

George Adams Gallery is pleased to present 'Loose Screws: 1974-1989,' a survey of works on paper and paintings by Luis Cruz Azaceta, on view from June 6 through August 9, 2024. This is Azaceta’s seventeenth exhibition with the gallery. George Adams will host an opening reception for the artist on Thursday, June 6, from 6 to 8 PM. Luis Cruz Azaceta (b. 1942) was born in Havana, Cuba, and experienced the violence of the Cuban revolution before emigrating to New York at 18 in 1959. He worked odd jobs and studied, earning a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 1969. Azaceta's early work, characterized by cartoon-like caricatures, addressed the moral and ethical issues of the time, focusing on urban violence with the intention of inspiring empathy: “The vehicle for compassion is the aesthetic that draws one into looking closely at what are, perhaps, sometimes horrific subjects and embracing them.” He used humor to mask the atrocities he witnessed in New York. In 1975, Azaceta debuted with his “Subway Series” at Allan Frumkin Gallery in “New Talent”, depicting the New York City subway and its passengers as animal-like creatures shaped by an unsympathetic environment. His colorful palette almost distracts from the grim subjects, such as dismembered limbs in a hotdog box in 'Ji Ji Ji Express,' (1974-75) or the figures hanging from nooses in 'No Parking Any Time' (1978), creating a “tragi-comic outcry at Man’s Condition.” Azaceta's work, influenced by both his experiences in Cuba and New York, was violent and rough, often compared critically to Goya and Daumier, coming out of a tradition of cartoon-like social commentary. His 1979 solo debut with Allan Frumkin focused on the brutality of city life, leading the New York Post to title their review "Canvas filled with terror." Throughout the 1980s, Azaceta's work continued to tackle the dark realities of inner-city life, emphasizing the experiences of marginalized people. He developed a raw, expressionistic style of painting on a massive scale to channel the anguish and fear around him. In 1987, in response to the growing crisis of AIDS, Azaceta began making paintings directly addressing the senseless loss of the epidemic. Over the next few years, he completed several works directly addressing the disease - bleakly illustrating the toll in human lives through piles of skulls and ticking clocks seen in 'The Plague: Aids Epidemic' (1987). He utilized a humanistic and sympathetic approach, where often his figures are self-portraits. By equating himself with those affected, his message is one of empathy. Luis Cruz Azaceta currently lives and works in New Orleans. Azaceta has exhibited internationally and was the subject of a career retrospective organized by the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, Miami in 2016. He has been the recipient of several major grants and awards including a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Grant in 1985, a Mid-Atlantic Grant for special projects in 1989, and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant in 2009. His work is included in major public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin; El Museo del Barrio, New York; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC; the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; and the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Monterrey, Mexico, among others.

The George Adams Gallery is pleased to present 'Visual Koans: Sculpture and Works on Paper,' a survey exhibition of works by Noel Neri. Neri's debut exhibition with the gallery will be on view from April 12 through May 24, 2024. The gallery will host an opening reception with the artist on Friday, April 12, from 6 to 8 PM. Noel Neri's sculptures, though initially appearing abstract, are meticulously crafted based on precise measurements derived from bodily proportions. Coated in auto body paint on steel, Neri’s sculptures stand as imposing monuments to introspection and enlightenment. For example, 'Govardhana Mountain' (2019) is a self-portrait—its dimensions correspond directly to Neri's overall proportions. In his pursuit to strip away vanity and ego, Neri reduces the human form to austere geometric shapes, ensuring that each dimension corresponds precisely to a bodily reference. Through this process, Neri's sculptures transcend mere representations of physical bodies, instead serving as reflections of the mind and spirit, evoking the ephemeral nature of corporeal existence. Approaching the figure as non-representational, Neri offers an alternative means of selfrepresentation, eschewing traditional depictions in favor of abstract forms that examine the essence of being. His work functions akin to visual koans—riddles used in Zen Buddhism to transcend logical reasoning and stimulate enlightenment. Like a koan, Neri's intention is for his sculptures to pose profound questions, encouraging viewers to contemplate personal growth and the shared human condition. Through introspection, Neri's works invite individuals to contemplate their own evolution and the interconnectedness of humanity. Noel Neri (b. 1962, San Francisco, CA) received his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1995 and his MFA from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1998. His work is in public collections including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Neri lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.