Matins II

oil & acrylic on canvas, 48" x 48"

What began four years ago in a tiny village in Provence as an emotional response to the landscape has become, over time, a pictorial metaphor for my relationship to the world. Though my work always begins with the landscape, it has become more about my metaphysical relationship to the landscape than a recitation of its observable facts. The formal elements, marks, textures, etc., exist on the canvas as existential signs, pointing ichnographically toward the real presence of the image. The “emptying” of the image of all that is extraneous to this end creates a delicate balance between what is said and what is left unsaid. It is here, in this fragile tension, that my work finds its true meaning.

Patrick Adams was born in the small, southwestern Minnesota farming community of Worthington in 1965. This rural setting of tall-grass prairie and natural lakes would make a lasting impression. When he was twelve, he began entering local and regional art competitions and selling his paintings. In 1983, he entered Bemidji State University in northern Minnesota with scholarships in both art and music (trumpet performance). He later transferred to Winona State University in southeastern Minnesota where he received the Mausycki Art Scholarship (now the Max Weber scholarship) and was awarded a solo exhibition.

In 1988, Patrick married Dr. Terre Wilson in Rochester, Minnesota where Terre was completing her residency in Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic. They moved to Lexington, Kentucky in 1989 for Patrick to enter the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Kentucky. In his second year, he was awarded a full scholarship and began working as a teaching assistant. After graduating in 1992, Adams continued to teach at the University of Kentucky and in 1994 began teaching at Asbury College.

Patrick and his family moved to Nicholasville, Kentucky in 1998 where he built a studio near his home. In 2000, he was awarded an Al Smith Fellowship which enabled him to spend a month in Provence, France where he laid the groundwork for his abstract landscapes. He left his teaching responsibilities in 2001 to pursue his art full-time.

Adams is represented by Mary Bell Galleries in Chicago, Illinois, Ann Tower Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky, Chapman Friedman Gallery in Louisville, Kentucky, and Gallery One in Nashville, Tennessee where he is scheduled for a solo exhibition in August, 2005.

Patrick has also continued his interest in music both as a performer and composer. In 1987, he released an album of original solo piano pieces titled Piano Sketches. He performs regularly in jazz combos, big bands, and rock venues. His latest recording project of original jazz compositions, Solipsis, was released in early June of 2005