Artist Statement
ROSE ADAMS ARTIST’S STATEMENT
My current non-commercial work is an investigation of brain imagery and memory. I began this work as Artist-in-Residence at the QEII Memory Clinic during 2004. From a focus in my paintings on the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, I have moved to an interest in how we now have the capacity to image the brain in many different forms (i.e. PET Scans, MRIs). These new ways to view our human responses have led to many exciting new developments in the world of medicine and neuroscience. At the same time, these images have meaning and have taken on almost an iconic resonance in contemporary society. My work investigates the metaphors that we attach to brain images, and through combining subjective and organic images with medical images, I seek to take anatomy that is “objective” and make it a subjective, emotive experience. In all of my work I am exploring ways that science, beauty and art can interact.
I also have an interest in botanical imagery and the meanings of gardens. In my commercial work for Secord Gallery in Halifax, I have been painting on previously prepared collaged paper grounds. I work on-site en plein air and document the fleeting nature of plants in our gardens. This work is more spontaneous than my work about the brain and I revel in the fleetingness of gardens and the pure pleasure of paint.
Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery recently hosted a 25 year retrospective of my work, “Birds, Bones and Brains” curated by Robin Metcalfe (January 11- March 9, 2014). This exhibition displayed works from all of my major exhibitions and showed my long term interest in memorial and crows and ravens. The exhibition also highlighted many of my early works which involved installation pieces and displayed my interest in environment and sustainability. As critic Tila Kellman wrote in the Summer 2014 issue of Visual Arts New, “Adams re-thinks her life through her paintbrush” and Elissa Barnard of The Chronicle Herald wrote that the exhibition is “a kaleidoscope of colour and energy.” I hope you agree.
Rose Adams
July 2014.
My current non-commercial work is an investigation of brain imagery and memory. I began this work as Artist-in-Residence at the QEII Memory Clinic during 2004. From a focus in my paintings on the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, I have moved to an interest in how we now have the capacity to image the brain in many different forms (i.e. PET Scans, MRIs). These new ways to view our human responses have led to many exciting new developments in the world of medicine and neuroscience. At the same time, these images have meaning and have taken on almost an iconic resonance in contemporary society. My work investigates the metaphors that we attach to brain images, and through combining subjective and organic images with medical images, I seek to take anatomy that is “objective” and make it a subjective, emotive experience. In all of my work I am exploring ways that science, beauty and art can interact.
I also have an interest in botanical imagery and the meanings of gardens. In my commercial work for Secord Gallery in Halifax, I have been painting on previously prepared collaged paper grounds. I work on-site en plein air and document the fleeting nature of plants in our gardens. This work is more spontaneous than my work about the brain and I revel in the fleetingness of gardens and the pure pleasure of paint.
Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery recently hosted a 25 year retrospective of my work, “Birds, Bones and Brains” curated by Robin Metcalfe (January 11- March 9, 2014). This exhibition displayed works from all of my major exhibitions and showed my long term interest in memorial and crows and ravens. The exhibition also highlighted many of my early works which involved installation pieces and displayed my interest in environment and sustainability. As critic Tila Kellman wrote in the Summer 2014 issue of Visual Arts New, “Adams re-thinks her life through her paintbrush” and Elissa Barnard of The Chronicle Herald wrote that the exhibition is “a kaleidoscope of colour and energy.” I hope you agree.
Rose Adams
July 2014.