photo: Garvey Simon Art Access
In the same way Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers evoke a certain wild and tender, secret luxuriance, Christopher Adams’ ceramic sculptures mimic nature in a way that is mesmerizing, delicate and powerful. The sculptor’s Primordial Garden show, on display at the Garvey Simon gallery in Chelsea from October 8 – November 7, features a series of wall-mounted, biomorphic abstractions with leafy tendrils and frayed edges. They are natural and alien all at once—and definitely pleasing to the eye.
photo: courtesy of Garvey Simon Art Access
Adams recently completed a major installation at Harvard University called Life or Something Like It, which included 1,000 of these plant-like sculptures. In 2013 he filled a 25′ wall at the Greenwich House of Pottery (where he did a 10-month residency) with similar works. He is certainly prolific, and when you look closely at the soft enveloping folds, the creeping tendrils, twisted leaves, playful freckles, and promiscuous, knotted outgrowths of these strange and beautiful objects, you can see why he spends so much time making them. His labors are nothing short of Sisyphean, and he has found a winning task.
Adams holds advanced degrees from Harvard College and Columbia University—not in sculpture—but in evolutionary biology and medicine. His understanding of biology clearly informs his artwork. When Adams is not making sculptures, he runs a dermatology practice in Boston, MA. If you are an art hobbyist or collector, we recommend stopping by Garvey Simon to check out his work.
-by Rachel Veroff
