Adam Shaw
ARTIST STATEMENT
The most important thing any art can offer is a bridge to a deeper experience of oneself. The experience of art occurs outside of time —both its making and its effect— despite the necessary parenthesis of its historic moment. This is the framework from which my efforts proceed.
Rembrandt, Turner, deKooning, Chinese landscapes... there are so many influences... but the real teachers are the materials and nature. My eyes do not distinguish between abstract and representational, for when observed closely, what is more abstract than upturned earth, the bark of a tree, the skin of a pomegranate, or the detail of a sleeve painted by Titian? I am never interested in what a painting is of, I am only interested in what a painting does when you are in its grips.
I consider myself a painter of the natural world. Even though what I paint may have never been seen —or even existed— before, it strives to be in accordance with all things which exist. The work is infused with the beauty and upheaval of the natural world and the tragedy and aspirations of the human condition. The tradition of applying pigmented substance to a surface for visual edification is one of the oldest currents running through the history of human life. Tradition is not something I deride, it is something to which I aspire. For me, painting is not something to do, it is rather a way to be. In my work I strive for a synthesis of what is timeless with something original, a vision of abstraction borne on the shoulders of the classical; a way of seeing where the borders between objective representation and pure painting disappear; a glorification of the materiality and transcendence of paint, in service of the highest part of oneself.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Adam Shaw’s highly textured oil paintings are infused with the beauty and upheaval of the natural world. Like so many artists that influence Shaw, such as Rembrandt, Turner, deKooning, and Chinese landscape painters, his true and enduring teacher is both nature itself and the ever-flexible material of paint. Observing the masters, while studying art history in Italy, was critical for Shaw, who reveres the tradition of painting and its materials. While Shaw is invested in a thorough knowledge in the craft of painting, his career is equally invested in experimentation and new visualizations.
Often blurring boundaries between abstraction and representation, Shaw’s forests and atmospheric landscapes are at times familiar and also otherworldly, even mysterious. There is a density of mark, objects, and a thickness of paint that amplify his admiration for natural forms. Working with a primarily earth-tone palette, he has explored numerous directions that can be loosely referred to as landscapes, flowers, trees, and work using language as a visual element.
Interest in text and the written word stems in part from Shaw’s liberal arts education and time spent studying and translating poetry from Latin, Russian, and Italian into English. In addition, Shaw pursued a Master’s degree in Poetics and has published a number of his own poems.
Adam Shaw’s process involves the application and removal of multiple layers on a single painting, which may take years to complete. The lush textural surfaces retain a remarkable luminosity and visceral record of his day-to-day painting process. This quality of slow evolution distinguishes his paintings as engaging a way of being and on ongoing self-exploration. As a result, he speaks of his work as being informed by a lifelong study of esoteric western and eastern traditions that highlight transformative spiritual experiences.
Shaw has been widely exhibited in the United States and is represented by the Selby Fleetwood Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. His work is in hundreds of private and corporate collections throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe, including the Bank of America, The Gap, Marriott Hotels and eBay Corporation. Adam Shaw lives and works in northern California.
2010 Patricia Carlisle Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2010 Aberson Exhibits, Tulsa, OK
2009 Patricia Carlisle Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2008 Patricia Carlisle Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2007 Patricia Carlisle Fine Arts, Santa FE, NM
2006 Patricia Carlisle Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2005 Craighead-Green Gallery, Dallas, TX
2005 Patricia Carlisle Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2005 Calvin Charles Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
2004 Craighead-Green Gallery, Dallas, TX
2004 Patricia Carlisle Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2003 Patricia Carlisle Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
2003 I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2002 I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2002 William Turner Gallery, Venice, CA
2001 I. Wolk Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2001 Plaza Gallery, Bank of America Center, San Francisco, CA
2000 Jernigan-Wicker Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1999 Linda Penzur Gallery, San Anselmo, CA
1999 Ortega Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1998 Claudia Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, CA
1998 Eos, San Francisco, CA
1997 Claudia Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, CA
1997 Marin Society of Artists, Ross, CA
