While much of the country has moved on from the chaos and shock of the insurrection in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, American artist Bill Adams has the historic date etched in his mind and locked within his creative sights. By choosing not to forget the attack or succumb to the overwhelming heaviness of life and the rapid-fire news cycles that lead to indifference and complacency, Adams new paintings of rebellions remind us that Democracy is on the line right now, and it is sadly much more feeble than we’d imagined possible.
A small-scale mutiny involving a minotaur and high-fiving friends rioting in animal pelts, superhero costumes and face paint would normally sound laughable, but this unruly mob succeeded in scaling the walls of The United States Capitol and occupying the country’s most hallowed political halls and offices with little resistance on January 6. Thankfully, the rag tag gang assembled and instigated by a disgruntled former president didn’t have any concrete plans for additional coordinated menace once inside the Capitol’s doors, but the event was deeply unsettling and terrifying all the same.
In response to the surreal moment, Bill Adams began obsessively painting world capitols under attack, all caught in swirling chaos and flames. An arm here, a leg there. The canvases feel urgent and alive, and highlight a virtuosic impressionist’s hand rendering darkly humorous images that are playful despite the serious subject matter. They clearly reflect the absurdity of contemporary times and attempt to capture something that would have seemed unfathomable until recently– a human dressed as a duck sacking the Capitol. But it happened, and these paintings are echoing alarm bells as much as they are art. Thankfully, even in darkness and lost to mayhem, the works still feel hopeful that we can, and will, do better. It’s whimsy and reality, and most importantly these paintings remind us that it could happen again.
Bill Adams (b. 1957, New York City) divides his time between Orient, NY and NYC. His work has been reviewed in the New York Times, the New Yorker and Artforum, and Adams has exhibited with Kerry Schuss Gallery; Gorney Bravin + Lee, Fredericks & Freiser and many others.
