Born in Baltimore, Maryland, 1970.
EDUCATION
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, B.F. A., 1996.Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
SELECTED SOLO SHOWS
2019
Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY. New Icons.
2018
Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, Colorado. Derrick Adams: Transmission.
Museum of Arts and Design, NYC, NY. Derrick Adams: Sanctuary.
Private Offices, NYC, NY.
2017
Primary Projects, Miami, Florida. Derrick Adams: Black White & Brown.
Tilton Gallery, NYC, NY. Figures in the Urban Landscape.
UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles, California. Repose.
Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. Tell Me Something Good.
Countee Cullen Library, Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC, NY. Derrick Adams: Patrick Kelly, The Journey.
California African American Museum, Los Angeles, California. Network.
Stony Island Arts Bank, Rebuild Foundation, Chicago, Illinois. Future People.
2016
Vigo Gallery, London, England. Float.
Messages in the Street, Chicago, Illinois. Derrick Adams x Messages in the Street.
Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, New York. ON.
Project for Empty Space, Gateway Project Spaces, Newark, New Jersey. Culture Club.
Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France. Black and White and in Color.
Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, Nebraska. Crossroad: A Social Sculpture.
2015
Aljira: A Center for Contemporary Art, Newark, New Jersey. The Holdout.
2014
Tilton Gallery, NYC, NY. LIVE and IN COLOR.
T Magazine Villa Necchi-Campiglio, Milan, Italy.
Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. Borough.
2013
Hales Gallery, London, England. Aestheticized Reductions of Self-Representation.
Louis B. James, NYC, NY. In The Company Of Others.
80WSE Gallery, NYC, NY. DISPLAY: Cloaked in the Proprieties of the Culture Game.
Galerie Anne De Villepoix, Paris, France. Becoming One With Your Environment.
2012
Mahaney Center for the Arts, Middlebury, Vermont. Cameron Visiting Artist: Derrick Adams.
Proposition Gallery, NYC, NY. Hillman U. — A Dream Deferred, A Dream Fulfilled.
Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. The World According to Derrick.
Colburn Gallery, The University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. Man As His Element.
Tilton Gallery, NYC, NY. Deconstruction Worker.
2010
Collette Blanchard Gallery, NYC, NY. Welcome to Monument City.
2006
Momenta Arts, Brooklyn, New York. Sometimes I Just Don’t Feel Like Myself.
2005
Marvelli Gallery, NYC, NY. I’m Sorry, I’m Lost.
Participant Inc., NYC, NY. I’m Smoke; You’re Mirror.
2004
Triple Candie, NYC, NY. Me and My Imaginary Friends.
2003
Jack Tilton Gallery, NYC, NY. The Big Getaway.
SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2018
Mary Boone Gallery, NYC, NY. Paintings.
Anna Marra Contemporanea, Rome, Italy. Postcard from New York — Part II.
Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, England. Talisman in the Age of Difference.
Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, Ohio. Go Figure.
2017
Prospect New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Prospect.4.
Children’s Museum of the Arts, NYC, NY. Maker, Maker.
Hawkins Ferry House with Library Street Collective and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Unobstructed Views.
SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, Georgia. Lines of Influence.
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama. Third Space / Shifting Conversations about Contemporary Art.
2016
Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. Baltimore Rising.
Barbara Walters Gallery, Heimbold Visual Arts Center, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York. FLAT SCREEN, SPLIT SCREEN, SMOKE SCREEN.
Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. 40 Years, Part I.
The Print Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Experiments in Print: Derrick Adams, Matthew Day Jackson, Dread Scott & Kate Shepherd.
32 Edgewood Gallery, Yale School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut. Black Pulp.
Aperture Foundation, NYC, NY. tête-à-tête.
2015
Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, Ohio. Us Is Them.
Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa. Young, Gifted and Black.
Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, New York. All Killer No Filler.
Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz, New York. Geometries of Difference: New Approaches to Ornament and Abstraction.
2014
Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, and Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. Retreat.
Logan Center, Chicago, Illinois. Szalon.
Quintenz Gallery, Aspen, Colorado. RELEVANCE: Perspectives of the African American Experience.
Concept NV, NYC, NY. Black Eye.
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas. Outside the Lines: Black in the Abstract, Part II: Hard Edges/Soft Curves.
2013
Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC, NY. The Shadows Took Shape.
Museum of Modern Art, NYC, NY. Reading List: Artists’ Selection from the MoMA Library Collection.
QF Gallery, East Hampton, New York. tête-à-tête.
James E. Lewis Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland. Reloading the Canon: African Traditions in Contemporary Art.
2012
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas. Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art. (Traveled to Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC, NY; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California)
Dodge Gallery, NYC, NY. Bigger Than Shadows.
Lehmann Maupin Gallery, NYC, NY. Friends With Benefits.
Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, California. The Road Ahead.
Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France. Summer Group Show.
Pratt Manhattan Gallery, NYC, NY. Pratt Alumni Painters.
Centro Experimental De Los Artes Visuales, Havana, Cuba. Sonando en Color, Havana Biennial.
Contemporary Wing, Washington, DC. Next Generation: Selections by Artists in the 30 Americans Collection.
Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. tête-à-tête. (Traveled to Yancey Richardson Gallery, NYC, NY)
MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York. Sunday Sessions.
C24 Gallery, NYC, NY. Campaign.
2011
Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC, NY. The Bearden Project.
Ogilvy & Mather, NYC, NY. The February Show.
2010
Third Streaming, NYC, NY. Bite: Street Inspired Art + Fashion.
Sue Scott Gallery, NYC, NY. Lush Life: Chapter One: Whistle.
Higher Pictures, NYC, NY. 50 Artists Photograph the Future.
Bowery Poetry Club, NYC, NY. Dissecting Intersections: Performative Responses.
CTRL GALLERY, Houston, Texas. Precarity and The Butter Tower.
Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, NYC, NY. NeoIntegrity Comics Edition.
2009
BRIC Arts, Brooklyn, New York. Revelatory Tension.
Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC, NY. Harlem Postcards.
2008
Moti Hasson Gallery, NYC, NY. Untitled (On Paper).
Redhouse Arts Center, Syracuse, New York. Bedtime Stories.
Nathan Cummings Foundation, NYC, NY. 1968: Then and Now.
Ingalls & Associates, Miami, Florida. Casa de Carton.
2007
Derek Eller Gallery, NYC, NY. Neo Integrity.
Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles, California. Dream of Today.
Fine Arts Building, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas. Taking Possession.
Memphis College of Art, Memphis, Tennessee. Reasons to Riot.
2006
Taxter & Spengemann, NYC, NY. Invade My Dreams.
MoCADA | Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art, Brooklyn, New York. The Pulse of New Brooklyn.
2005
Alona Kagan Gallery, NYC, NY. If You’re Feeling Sinister.
MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York. Greater New York 2005.
Tilton Gallery, NYC, NY. Jack Tilton Inaugural Exhibition.
2004
Wall Street Rising / Deutsche Bank, NYC, NY. Art Downtown: Connection Collections.
Florida Atlantic University Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida. Me, Myself & I.
Sampson Projects, Boston, Massachusetts. Notorious Impropriety.
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York. Open House: Working in Brooklyn.
2003
Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania. 24/7: Wilno — Nueva York (Visa Para).
Nathan Cummings Foundation, NYC, NY. Confrontation or Commentary.
Roebling Hall — Satellite, NYC, NY. Summer Jam.
Lisa Kirk Projects, NYC, NY. You.
Massimo Audiello, NYC, NY. Adams, Cerrillo, Perkins.
Studio Museum in Harlem, NYC, NY. Veni Vidi Video.
Centenary Gallery, Camberwell College of Arts, London, England. Urbanites: New York, London, Tokyo.
2002
Triple Candie, NYC, NY. Hotel/Motel.
2001
Manhattan Borough President’s Office, NYC, NY. Striking Blows.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Cori, Four Artists Take Over the MCA with TV, Discussions of Race and Gallons of Honey, 303 MAGAZINE, 11 June 2018.
Tonguette, Peter, Abstract Exhibit at Pizzuti Collection Celebrates Human Form, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 27 May 2018.
Sargent, Antwaun, Spring Awakening, GALERIE MAGAZINE, Spring 2018.
Budds, Diana, How a 15-page DIY book forever changed travel for black Americans, CURBED, 20 March 2018.
Drinkard, Jane, An Artist Reimagines a Travel Guide for Black Americans, THE CUT, 30 January 2018.
Valentine, Victoria L., Lines of Influence: Centennial Exhibition Explores Jacob Lawrence’s Connections with Artists Past and Present, CULTURETYPE, 30 January 2018.
Warren, Tamara, Mobility Through the Eyes of an Artist, THE VERGE, 26 January 2018.
Johnson, Sara, Pit Stops of Safety, ARCHITECT MAGAZINE, 25 January 2018.
Hilburg, Jonathan, Jim Crow-era restrictions on black travel and leisure are reimagined in multimedia show, THE ARCHITECTS NEWSPAPER, 23 January 2018.
Staff, 9 Art Events to Attend in New York City This Week, ARTNEWS, 22 January, 2018.
Phongsirivech, Pimploy, Artist Derrick Adams reinterprets Jim Crow era travel guidebooks, INTERVIEW MAGAZINE, 20 January 2018.
Mendelsohn, Meredith, How an Artist Learned About Freedom From “The Negro Motorist Green Book”, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 19 January 2018.
Donoghue, Katy, Derrick Adams is Focusing on a Positive Vision for the Future, WHITEWALL MAGAZINE, 15 January 2018.
Scobie, Ilka, Derrick Adams Paintings Inspired By The 1936 Negro Travel Guide Exhibited, ARTLYST, 8 January 2018.
Uszerowicz, Monica, Transforming the View: Derrick Adams Interviewed by Monica Uszerowicz, BOMB, 5 January 2018.
Rodney, Seph, A Landscape Made Up of Black Folks, HYPERALLERGIC.COM, 2 January 2018.
Sargent, Antwaun, How Black Artists, Dealers, and Collectors are Boosting the Careers of Their Younger Peers, ARTSY, 17 December 2017.
Estape, Taylor, Artist Derrick Adams on Surveying His Career and Supporting Young Creatives, MIAMI NEW TIMES, 12 December 2017.
Zhong, Fan, The 4th Prospect New Orleans Triennial Is Full Of Black Art, But Does It Make Enough Noise?, W MAGAZINE, 24 November 2017.
Lehrer, Adam, Derrick Adams Stays Focused on “Triumphant Moments” in New Art Show, BEDFORD AND BOWERY, 10 November 2017.
Galeano-DeMott, Christie, Our Cover Star’s Gift Picks for Cultured Women, INDULGE MAGAZINE, 7 November 2017.
Cascone, Sarah, Editor’s Picks: 19 Things to See in New York This Week, ARTNET NEWS, 6 November 2017.
Sargent, Antwaun, Pleasure Principle, CULTURED MAGAZINE, 24 October 2017.
Dyer, Dierdre, The Journey Continues: How Derrick Adams’s Collages Pick Up Where Patrick Kelly Left Off, STUDIO MAGAZINE, Fall/Winter 2017.
Wilson-Goldie, Kaelen, Critic’s Pick: Derrick Adams, Patrick Kelly, The Journey, ARTFORUM, September 2017.
Scruffs, Danielle A., For Derrick Adams, Black Imagination is the Future, CHICAGO READER, 20 June 2017.
Kim, Hyunjee Nicole, Derrick Adams: Network at CAAM, DAILYSERVING, 28 March 2017.
Embuscado, Rain and Eileen Kinsella, People: 10 Disruptors Who Are Completely Changing the Art World, ARTNET NEWS, 24 October 2016.
Tonguette, Peter, The “Wow” Factor: Primary Colors Compel Close Examination of Works by Two Artists, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH, 18 September 2016.
Anderson, Michael, Derrick Adams, Fred Tomaselli and Michael Anderson in Conversation at Jack Tilton Gallery, WHITE HOT MAGAZINE, August 2016.
Ang, Kristiano, A Brooklyn Artist Finds Inspiration Close to Home, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5 July 2016.
Mc Clure, Diana, Media Critique is Art at Pioneer Works Show, RED HOOK STAR, July 2016.
Glover, Tehsuan, Arts & Entertainment: If You Haven’t Seen Derrick Adams’ Culture Club Exhibition…See It…Now, THE NEWARK TIMES, 17 June 2016.
Frank, Priscilla, Artist Explores The Vibrant, Complex History Of Blackness On Television, HUFFINGTON POST, 16 June 2016.
Staff, Pictures at an Exhibition: “Derrick Adams at Pioneer Works”, ARTNEWS, 15 June 2016.
Mufson, Beckett, Busted TVs Conjure Broken African American Stereotypes, VICE, 14 June 2016.
Pini, Gary, 8 Must-See Art Shows Opening This Week, PAPER MAGAZINE, 9 June 2016.
Thackara, Tess, At Pioneer Works, Derrick Adams Takes Characters out of the TV Screen and into Real Life, ARTSY, 8 June 2016.
Baumgardner, Julie, An Art Show Inspired by Infomercials — and One Famous TV Psychic, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 8 June 2016.
Duron, Maximiliano, Derrick Adams Wins Studio Museum’s 2016 Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize, ARTNEWS, 25 October 2016.
Goldstein, Andrew M., 10 of the best Artworks at EXPO Chicago 2016, ARTSPACE, 24 September 2016.
Bishop, Garth, New Directions, CITY SCENE MAGAZINE, September/October 2015, p. 56.
Haider, Faheem, Politics Camouflaged as Ornamental Abstraction, HYPERALLERGIC.COM, 9 April 2015.
Shakur, Fayemi, Derrick Adams Brings A Practical Edge to Conceptual Art, INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART, April 2015.
Wright, Peter “Souleo”, On the “A” w/Souleo: Derrick Adams Merges Radio and Art With A Focus On Community, HUFFINGTON POST, 25 March 2015.
Ovstebo, Solveig, Chicago’s Best 2014, ART IN AMERICA, 23 December 2014.
Schriber, Abbe, Critics’ Picks: Derrick Adams, ARTFORUM, 14 October 2014.
Duponchelle, Valérie and Béatrice De Rochebouet, La Fiac à l’heure de la surenchère, LE FIGARO, 22 October 2014.
Smith, Roberta, Derrick Adams: Live and in Color, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 10 October 2014.
Yerman, Marcia G., A Conversation with Derrick Adams, HUFFINGTON POST, 10 October 2014.
Chan, Dawn, A Group Show in TriBeCa Explores Black Identity Today, THE NEW YORK TIMES/T MAGAZINE, 1 May 2014.
Staff, T’s Toast to Salone, THE NEW YORK TIMES/T MAGAZINE, 8 April 2014.
Cotter, Holland, Going Beyond Blackness, Into the Starry Skies: The Shadows Took Shape, at the Studio Museum in Harlem, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 14 November 2013.
Agustsson, Sola, Performa 13: Once Upon a Time… by Derrick Adams, WHITEWALL MAGAZINE, 8 November 2013.
Martiny, Erik, Derrick Adams “Becoming One With Your Environment” In Paris, WHITEWHALL MAGAZINE, 10 May 2013.
Williams, Gregory, Derrick Adams, ARTFORUM, November 2012.
Ossei-Mensah, Larry, Derrick Adams, WHITEWALL MAGAZINE, Issue 27, Fall 2012.
Mc Quaid, Cate, Off-the-Wall Social Expectations, THE BOSTON GLOBE, 14 August 2012.
Cotter, Holland, Tête-à-Tête, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 9 August 2012, p. C27.
Staff, Tête-à-Tête, THE NEW YORKER, 26 July 2012.
Metzelaar, Jonathan, Spotlite: Deconstructing Derrick, PMC MAGAZINE, March 2012.
Mc Adams, Shane, Inside Out: Derrick Adams, ARTVOICES MAGAZINE, February 2012.
Elliott, Bobby, The Bearden Project: A Family Affair, HUFFINGTON POST, 7 December 2011.
Cotter, Holland, Art Review: Lower East Side Tale, Refracted Nine Times, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 9 July 2010.
Cotter, Holland, 50 Artists Photograph the Future, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 27 May 2010.
Finch, Charlie, Bricktop, ARTNET, February 2010.
Bedolla, Myrtis, Art Basel ‘09, THE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART, Volume 23 #1, 2010.
Cotter, Holland, United Black Girls, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 30 March 2007.
Jackson, Maclean, Derrick Adams, MASS APPEAL MAGAZINE, Issue 38, 2006.
Murray, Soraya and Derek Conrad Murray, A Rising Generation & The Pleasures of Freedom, INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART, Volume 20 #2, 2005.
Kleiman, Molly, People Sticking Their Heads in Things, NY ARTS MAGAZINE, September/October 2005.
Berwick, Carly, Where the Scenes Are: Greater New York’s New Art Geography, NEW YORK MAGAZINE, 7 March 2005.
Subotnick, Ali, Massimiliano Gioni, and Maurizio Cattelan, Everybody Was There — The Wrong Guide to New York in 2004, ARTFORUM, December 2004.
Cotter, Holland, Art in Review: Charles Gaines, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 30 April 2004.
Banai, Nuit, Art: Youth Maneuvers, ONE WORLD, February/March 2004.
Cotter Holland, Art Guide: Last Chance, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 3 October 2003.
Psibilskis, Liutauras, Critics’ Picks: Vilnius, ARTFORUM, September 2003.
Johnson, Ken, Art in Review: From Mouse Ears to Poetic Pop, Work by Blacks, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 2 February 2002.
Johnson, Ken, Art in Review: National Black Fine Arts Show, THE NEW YORK TIMES, 2 February 2001.
