On Wordplay, Rhythm, and the Art of Ryan Adams
An interview for Indigo Arts Alliance’s The Record
March 2023 (interview conducted in 2022)
Excerpt (from the introduction):
”It was Ryan Adams who reminded me that it’s possible to get to know an artist’s work without ever stepping foot in their studio or standing in front of their work in an exhibition space. There’s a way to feel familiar with an artist’s practice without having their murals be the backdrop of daily commutes or perusing their work on digital screens. What I consider to be my introduction to Adams’ work didn’t actually involve his work at all. It happened this past January, by happenstance, in the kitchen of Surf Point Foundation during the first week of our residency, as we both brewed our coffee. Though the curious curator in me looked into the work of the other artists in my residency cohort before I arrived, those explorations didn’t tell me nearly as much as my conversation with Adams did that morning.
After sharing the journey we each took to get to Surf Point–me through a multi-day road trip from Chicago, Illinois and Adams through some creative family scheduling from Portland, Maine–the conversation turned to music. From there, we quickly discovered our mutual love and appreciation for hip hop, particularly lyricists Phonte and Big Pooh who are also known as the Durham-born duo Little Brother. I bring this up because, in most cases, to be a Little Brother fan signals a reverence for poetics, clever wordplay, humor, alluring rhythms, and unapologetic respect and devotion to Black life and culture. Similarly, to bear witness to Adams’ work, no matter the context, is to experience all of these same qualities echoing in a different yet deeply related form. When I look at Adams’ art now, it is always lyrically and sonically annotated. I let myself fall into the words and get caught up nodding to the beat.
Many months later and as he prepared for shows at Notch8 Gallery and Ishibashi Gallery (Concord, MA), Adams and I took some time to discuss the origin story of his style, making work on the streets versus the studio, and what it’s like to be a Black artist in an era of seismic social, political, and cultural sea changes.”
Photo Credits:
All photos courtesy of Ryan Adams.
