If you are not automatically redirected, click here

Mac Adams

Biography

Mac Adams Born in Brynmawr, Wales. Lives and works in Montclair, New Jersey.

Education

Cardiff College of Art, N.D.D, 1961-66

A.T.D, 1966-67

Rutgers University, Master of Fine Arts, 1967-69

Awards

New York State Fellowship for the Arts (Sculpture), 1988

National Endowment Fellowship for the Arts (Sculpture), 1982

Berlin Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst Berliner Kunstlerprogram, 1981

National Endowment Fellowship for the Arts, 1980

National Endowment Fellowship for the Arts, 1976

Solo exhibitions (selection)

2008

Art Premiere (with Dominique Petitgand), Basel Art Fair 39, Basel.

2007

07-70, gb agency, Paris.

2006

Mens Rea, CEAAC, Strasbourg.

2005

Life Force, sculpture commissioned by University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey.

2004

Couvent des Cordeliers, Musée de Châteauroult, Châteauroult.

sauf lundi, Florence Diemer, Paris.

2002

&: gb agency, Paris.

Résonnances, project for the Château de Blois, Images au Centre.

2001

Mac Adams, Centre Photographique d'Ile de France, Pontault-Combault.

2000

Serge Aboukrat Editions, Paris.

1998

Silence of Shadows, Cardiff Arts Trust, touring exhibition, Great-Britain.

1997

Todd Gallery, London, Great-Britain.

Mac Adams & Michael Snow, Stux Gallery, New York City.

1996

Exposition monographique, Mai de Reims, Reims.

1994

Galerie Froment & Putman, Paris.

1993

Art Awareness, Lexington, New York City.

1992

John Gibson Gallery, New York City.

Yoshiaki Inoue Gallery, Osaka, Japan.

1990

Sable CasteIIi Gallery, Toronto, Canada.

Gracie Mansion Gallery, New York City.

Farideh Cadot Gallery, New York City.

1988-89

La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California.

Saxon/Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, California.

Montclair State College, Montclair, New Jersey.

1987

Farideh Cadot Gallery, New York City.

Galerie Maier-Hahn, Düsseldorf, Germany.

1985

Sable/Castelli Gallery, Toronto, Canada.

Galasso Fine Art, Ossining, New York City.

1984

Galerie Arlogos, Nantes, France.

Hammerskjold Plaza Sculpture Garden, New York City.

Dead End, a collaborative installation with architect Henry Smith Miller & performer Peter Gordon for Creative Time, Inc., New York City.

Freidus/Ordover Gallery, New York City.

1979-80

Welsh Arts Council of Great Britain, touring exhibition.

Installation, Drew University, New Jersey.

1979

Hal Bromm Gallery, New York City.

Tomusulo Gallery, Union College, New Jersey.

Galerie Maier-Hahn, Düsseldorf, Germany.

1978

Installation, Sala Polivalente of the Palazzo Dei Diamanti, Ferrara, Italy.

Studio G7 Ginevra Grigolo, Bologna, Italy.

Francoise Lambert, Milan, Italy.

John Gibson Gallery, New York City.

Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, Great-Britain.

1977

Galerie Maier-Hahn, Düsseldorf, Germany.

Museum of Art, University of Iowa.

Galerie Yaki Kornblit, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

1976

John Gibson Gallery, New York City.

Studio 46, Piergiorio Firinu, Turin, Italy.

Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, Great-Britain.

1974

112 Greene Street, New York City.

1969

Douglass College, Rutgers University.

Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, New Jersey.

Group exhibitions (selection)

2009

Nord, Nord-Ouest, gb agency, Paris.

2008

Sept ans de réflexion, Musée Nicéphore Niepce, Chalon sur Saône.

Animations / Fictions, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucarest.

(sous réserve), Maison du Geste et de l'Image, Paris.

2007

Photographie : détrônera la peinture, Dépôt du Centre Pompidou, Musée Nicéphore Niepce, Chalon sur Saône.

2006

Les Peintres de la vie moderne, Donation - Collection photographique de la Caisse des Dépôts, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris.

Noir, c'est la vie, Abbaye Saint- André, Centre d'Art Contemporain, Meymac.

2005

L'inquiétante étrangeté des objets, Oeuvres du Frac Ile-de-France, Musée Gatien-Bonnet, Lagny-sur-Marne.

2003

Passerelles, MK2, Paris.

Récentes acquisitions, FRAC Basse Normandie, Caen.

Perception déstabilisée, Ecole Régionale des Beaux-Arts de Rennes.

A mains nues, FRAC Haute Normandie, Rouen.

2002

Objets de réflexion, FRAC Ile de France, Le Plateau, Paris.

Photographier, Hotel de Caumont, Collection Lambert, Avignon.

2001

Affinités narratives, gb agency, Paris.

Azerty, Centre Pompidou, Paris.

2000

Openends-Sets and Situations, MOMA, New York City.

1999

ExtraETordinaire, Le Printemps de Cahors, Cahors.

1998

Chemical Traces - Photography and Conceptual Art 1968-1998, Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull.

Mysterious Voyages, Exploring the subject Photography, Contemporary Museum, Baltimore.

10 ans de Commandes Publiques, CEAAC, Strasbourg.

1997

Cause and Defect, Spencer Brownstone Gallery, New York City.

Shadow Traffic, E.S. Vandam, New York City.

1996

Mai de la Photo, Question de Genres, Reims.

Espaces Critiques, FRAC Basse-Normandie, Caen.

Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, Great-Britain.

1995

Bit by Bit, Post photographic Imaging, Hunter College Gallery, New York City.

Intimacy, National Arts Club, New York City.

Words, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, Great-Britain, touring to Fringe Gallery, Glasgow.

1994

Conceptual Photography 11, John Gibson Gallery, New York City.

1993

Multiple Images, Photographs since 1965 from the Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

Working with Tradition, The Academic Artist, curated by Donald Kuspit, Burchfield Center, Buffalo, New York.

Works from the Permanent Collection and New Acquisitions, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

Monumental Properganda, Courtyard Gallery, World Financial Center.

Chance Choice and Irony, Todd Gallery, London, touring exhibition.

1992

Quotations, The Second History of Art; Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art and Museum of Contemporary Art, at Wright State University.

The Order of Things; Toward a Politic of Still Life, Widner Gallery, Trinity College and Real Art Ways, Connecticut.

The Seventies, John Gibson Gallery, New York City.

1991

New York Diary; Almost 25 Different Things, P.S.1 Museum, The Institute for Contemporary Art, New York City.

American Express, John Gibson Gallery, New York City.

Insect Politics, Body Horror/Social Order, Hallwalls, Buffalo, NY.

1990

Rock, Is There Something You're Not Telling Me?, Selections from the Contemporary Sculpture Collection of the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Kohler Gallery, Toronto.

Voyages of the Modern Imagination: The Boat in Contemporary Art, Farnsworth Museum, Maine.

Contemporary Visions, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati.

1989

L'observatoire, Gallery Farideh Cadot, New York City and Paris.

Sequence (con) Sequence, (Sub)versions of Photography in the 80's, Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Bard College, New York.

1988

West Art and the Law, touring exhibition to Metro Toronto Convention Center, Toronto, Canada; Temple University Law School; Anderson Gallery, Virginia University, Richmond; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University.

Fabricated Image, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University.

1987

A Look at Photography Book of 1987, International Center for Photography, New York City.

Photography and Art, Interactions Since 1946 to 1987, County Museum and Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Los Angeles.

This is Not a Photograph, 20 Years of Large Scale Photography 1966 to 1986, John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida. Itinérance à Akron Art Museum et the Chrysler Museum.

Photo Mannerism, Lawrence Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia.

Alternative Image III, Visual Paradox, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

1986

Cinema Object, City Gallery, Department of Cultural Affairs, New York City.

Apparitions and Allusions; Photographs of the Unseen, San Diego State University.

Intimate-Intimate, Indiana State University.

Artists Select Artists, C.D.S. Gallery, New York City.

The Real Big Picture Show, Queens Museum, New York City.

Human Interest - Fifty Years of British Art About People, Cornerhouse, Manchester, Great-Britain.

1985

A Journey Through Contemporary Art, Hayward Gallery, London.

Body and Soul, Recent Aspects of Figurative Sculpture, touring exhibition: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, 1985-87.

Psychodrama, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia.

Conscious Objectors, Ted Greenwald Gallery, New York City.

1984

El Arte Narrativo, Museo Rufino, Tamayo, Mexico City.

New Jersey Arts Inclusion Program, 1978-1984, The Jane Voorhees Simmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University.

lers Ateliers Internationaux De Fontevraud, Fontevraud, France.

International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York City.

Content, The Contemporary Focus, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC.

Aspects of New Narrative Art, Berkshire Museum, Massachusetts, touring exhibition: Rhode Island School of Design Museum / Skidmore College Museum.

1983

Studio G7 Ginevra Grigolo, 1973/1983, Bologna, Italy.

In Plato's Cave, Marlborough Gallery, New York City.

Bronze!, Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, Great-Britain.

Fragments, Tangeman Gallery, University of Cincinnati.

The New Sculpture,Hamilton Gallery, New York City.

Photo as Art, works from the Krauss Collection, Neue National Galerie, Berlin.

Kölnicher Kunstverein 1983, Münchner Stadtmuseum.

Kunsthalle zu Kiel der Christian Ailbrechts-Universitatund.

Schleswig-Holsteinisher Kunstverein, touring exhibition.

1982

Tableaux, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati.

Still Modern After All These Years, Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA.

20th Year Rutgers University M.F.A. Program, NJ Museum, Trenton.

Beyond Photography: The Fabricated Image, Delahunty Gallery, New York City.

Spiegel-Bilder, exposition itinérante: Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg Kunstverein Hanover, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin.

Sidney Biennale, Gallery New S. Wales, Sidney, Australia.

1981

5th Vienna International Biennale, Erweiterte Fotografie, Vienna.

British Artists in Berlin, Two Decades of D.A.A.D. Artists in Residence Program, Goethe Institute, London.

Five English Artists, John Gibson Gallery, New York City.

Alternatives in Retrospect, an historical overview 1969-1975, New Museum, New York City.

New Directions, Contemporary American Art from the Commodities Corporation Collection, touring exhibition, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York City.

1980

Painting and Sculpture Today, 1980, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis.

New Work, John Hilliard, Jeff Wall, Dan Graham, Roger Cutforth, Mac Adams, Hal Bromm Gallery.

1979

Narrative Art, Groninger Museum, Netherlands.

Concept/Narrative/Document, Recent Photographic Works from the Morton Neumann Family Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

The Altered Photograph, Exhibition Center, Institute for Art & Urban Resources, P.S. 1, New York City.

1978

Personal Visions: Places, Spaces, Bronx Museum, New York City.

Narrative Art, I.C.A., Boston, Massachusetts.

1977

Twelve From Rutgers 1977, University Art Gallery, N.Brunswick, New Jersey.

American Narrative/Story Art 1967-77, Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas, touring exhibition.

Adams/Beckley/Collins, Alberta College of Art, Alberta, Canada.

Documenta 6, Kassel, Germany.

On Site, Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, Great-Britain.

New Ideas, A Collection of Works for Jimmy Carter, Museum of Georgia, Athens.

1976

Photo-Idea, Gallery Communale d Arte Moderna, Parma, Italy.

The Artist and the Photograph, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

1969

Soft Art, New Jersey State Museum, Trenton.

1967

Contemporary Painting/Sculpture in Wales, National Museum, Wales.

Bibliography

Books and catalogues (selection)

Mac Adams, Mens Rea, Editions de l'Oeil, Paris, 2006.

Mac Adams, Beyond a Shadow of Doubt, text by Nancy Princenthal, Editions joca seria, Musées de Châteauroux, 2004.

Art and Photography, edited by David Campany (pp. 94/95), Phaidon Publication, 2003

Images au centre 02, Photographie contemporaine et Patrimoine, text by Sylvain Lizon, Editions du Patrimoine, 2002.

Crimes of Perception, texts by Yannick Vigouroux and Judicaël Lavrador, Editions du Regard, Paris, 2002.

One Hundred Lies, text by Patrick Bouvet, Editions Christophe Daviet-Thery, Paris, 2002.

Mac Adams, Silence of Shadows, text by Norbert Lynton, published by Cardiff Bay Arts Trust, 2000.

EXTRAetORDINAIRE, text by Pascal Beausse, Actes Sud, 1999.

Chemical Traces, Photography and Conceptual Art, 1968-1998, Frens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hill, U.K, 1998

Fine Art Photography, Graphis Publications.

20th Century Photography, Museum Ludwig Köln, Germany, 1997.

The Bhudda Book, Frank Olinsky, Chronical Publications, 1997.

Mac Adams, Meditation, Editions CEAAC Strasbourg, 1996.

Question of Genres, by Jean-Marc Huitorel, Reims, France, 1996.

L'Impunité de l'art, by Jacques Soulillou, Editions Du Seuil, Paris, 1995.

Mac Adams, text by Jacques Soulillou, in Fonds Régional d'Art Contemporain, Limousin, 1989-1995, 1995.

Intimacy, essay by Tomak Lemprecht, National Arts Club, New York City, 1995.

Quotations, The Second History of Art, The Aidrich Museum of Contemporary Art and Museum of Contemporary Art at Wright State University, 1992.

The Order of Things; Toward a Politic of Still Life, texte de Susan M. Canning, Widner Gallery Trinity College and Real Art Ways, Hartford, 1992.

The Surrogate Figure; Intercepted Identities in Contemporary Photography, text by Julia Ballerini, Center for Photography, Woodstock, New York, 1991.

Water as Environmental Art, Shoichiro Higuchi (pp. 148), Kashiwashobo Publishing Company, Tokyo, Japan, 1991.

Public Art, Urban Sculpture of 50 Cities in USA, Shoichiro Higuchi, 1991.

Insect Politics. Body Horror/Social Order, text by Stephen Derrickson, Hallwalls Publications, 1990.

Idea, International Advertising Art Series 16: Art in New York Today, texts by Shoichiro Higuchi, 1990.

Mac Adams, Fountainhead, text by Lynda Forsha, Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California, 1989.

Mac Adams, Serpent Bearer, text by Donald Wall, Montclair State College Publication, 1989.

Sequence (con) Sequence, (Sub)versions of Photography in the 80's, edited by Julia Ballerini, Aperture Book, 1989.

L'observatoire, Farideh Cadot Gallery, 1989.

Balkon Mit Facher, 25 Jahre Berliner Kunstlerprogram Des D.A.A.D, (p. 120), 1989.

Visual Paradox, Truth and Fiction in the Photographic Image, text by Joanne Cubbs (pp. 9/43), John Michael Kohler Arts Centre, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 1989.

West Art and the Law, text by Saul Touster, (pp. 3/4, 14/15), 1988-89.

Art and Photography, interactions Since 1945, texts by Andy Grundberg et Kathleen McCarthy Guass, Abbeville Press, NY (pp. 140/156), 1987.

Fabrications, text by Anne Hoy, Abbeville Press, NY Publications, 1987.

This is Not a Photograph, Twenty Years of Large Scale Photography 1966 to 1986, texts by Joe Jacobs, John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, Florida, 1987.

Privileged Eye, text by Max Kosloff, University of New Mexico Press, 1987.

Intimate/Intimate, Charles Mayer, Univ. of Indiana, 1986.

Human Interest. Fifty Years of British Art About People, selection by Norbert Lynton, 1985.

Body and Soul, Aspects of Recent Figurative sculpture, Sarah Rogers-Lafferty, 1985.

A Journey Through Contemporary Art with Nigel Greenwood, Haywood Gallery, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1985.

Drawing a Contemporary Approach, Claudia Betti / Teel Sale, Hold / Rinehart / Winston, publication, 1985.

El Arte Narrativo, texte de Bruce D. Kurtz, Museo RufinoTamayo, Mexico City & P.S. 1, Long Island City, NY84

New Jersey Arts Inclusion Program 1978-1984, 1984.

1ers Ateliers Internationaux De Fontevraud, text by Michel Enrici, 1984.

Content, A Contemporary Focus 1974-1984, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 1984.

An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture, text by Kynaston McShine, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1984.

Aspects of New Narrative Art, Debra Brickner Balke, Berkshire Museum, Massachusetts, 1984.

Mac Adams, text by Bernard Martin, Galerie Arlogos, Nantes, France, 1984.

In Plato's Cave, Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Marlborough Gallery, New York, 1983.

Works from the Krauss Collection, Neue National Galerie, Berlin, 1983.

Esthétique & Réthorique, Mac Adams, New Mysteries, Furor Magazine #8, 1983.

New Trends, The Gallery of World Photography, text by Weston Naef, Shueisha Publishing Company, 1983.

Still Modern After All These Years, texts by Brooks Johnson /Thomas W. Styron, Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, 1982.

Tableaux, Nine Contemporary Sculptors, texts by Michael Klein /Robert Stearns, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, 1982.

Mac Adams Mysteries, text by Bernard Blistène, Musée de Toulon, France, 1982.

Mystery and Meaning in the Work of Mac Adams, text by Kate Linker, Neue Galerie-Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen, Germany, 1981.

New Direction, Contemporary American Art, Introduction by Sam Hunter.

Photo/Documents, Photo/Narratives and Photographs, Robert C. Morgan, 1981.

British Artists in Berlin, Two Decades of the D.A.A.D, ZG. Magazine, Artist and Camera, 1981.

Mac Adams Mysteries, text by Kim Levin, Welsh Arts Council, 1980.

Model of History, Skira Annuel, 1979.

Class and Classlessness in American Art, Carter Ratcliff, 1979.

Photographie als Medium, text by R.H. Krauss, V.A.N. publication, Germany, 1979.

Narrative Art, text by Antje Von Graeventz, Groninger Museum, Netherlands, 1979.

Concept/Narrative/Document, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1979.

American Narrative/Story Art, 1967-1977, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, 1978.

Adams/ Beckley/ Collins, text by Eric Cameron, Alberta College of Art, October 1977.

Documenta 6, Photography/Film/Video, 1977.

Eight Small Sculptures, book published by the artist, 1973.

Press (selection)

Les Inrockuptibles, Mac Adams, Judicaël Lavrador, May 8-14, 2007.

Connaissance des Arts, Les cadavres exquis de Mac Adams, March - May 2007.

Next Level, The Desire Issue, Mac Adams Witness, 2006.

Zurban, Les Clés du Cluedo, Mac Adams, November 2002.

Libération, Objectif Centre, October 2002.

Aden / Le Monde, Mac Adams, Emmanuelle Lequeux, December 2002.

Beaux Arts Magazine, Mac Adams Images Polar, Véronique Bouruet-Aubertot, November 2001.

Le Journal du CNP, Remix en série, Judicaël Lavrador, September 2001.

Le Monde, Mystérieux Mac Adams, Michel Guerrin, November 3, 2001.

Vogue, Mac Adams, October 2001.

L'oeil, Mac Adams, faits divers, November 2001.

Paris Photo, Mac Adams, November-December 2001.

Beaux-Arts Magazine, L'Affaire Beaux- Arts !, Jean-Max Colard et Nicolas Demorand, June 1999.

Mac Adams and Michael Snow, Dominique Nahas, Review, June 15, 1997.

Art Press, Mac Adams Relating the Facts, Jacques Soulillou, p 61-66, April 1994.

Sunday Star, Mac Adams Images Provoke Viewers Imagination, Ledger Mitchell Seidel June 6, 1993.

New York Times, Mysteries of One Kind or Another, Vivian Raynor, August 15, 1993.

The New Yorker, Slight Modifications, Lawrence Weschler, July 12, 1993.

New York Times, Reviews, Charles Hagen, March 1992.

New York Times, Politics of Blame on Display in Hartford, Vivian Raynor, Feb 16, 1992.

Hartford Advocate, Distant Voices, Still Lives, Susan Wadsworth, Feb 26, 1992.

New York Times, Photography and the Sin of Voyeurism, Vicki Goldberg, March 8, 1992.

The Korean Times-New York, The Korean War Veterans Parade, Charles Kim, June 29, 1991.

New York Times Metropolitan, A Korean War Parade, Decades Late, James Barron, June 26, 1991.

The Stare Ledger, Korea Salute, Vets of Forgotten War hailed a parade, Kevin R. Richardson, June 26, 1991.

New York Times, An Obelisk for Korean Veterans, Paul Helou, April 7, 1991.

New York Times, Photography: Images of the Past and Future, Andy Greenburg, January 12, 1990.

New York Observer, Juxtaposed Images Create Mystery Fictions, A.D. Colman, January 1990.

Art News, Mac Adams, Gracie Mansion at Farideh Cadot, R.B. Woodward, May 1990.

Village Voice, Photo, V. Ahtti, January 30, 1990.

Art International, Summer, pp. 71-72, 1990.

Robert Esformes, It Came Out of Nowhere, Inquiry Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines, Montclair State College, VoI. 5, No. 4, May 1990.

New York Times, New York Salutes Its Korean War Memorial, Michael Freitag, Friday, September 29, 1989.

Art & Auction, Adams' Apple, Lin Smith Vincent, November 1989.

Meg Siesfeld, Battery News Remembering Korea in Battery Park, October 23, 1989.

New York Vets, Mayor Unveils Design for Korean Veterans Memorial, Fall, VoI. 1, No. 4, 1989.

New York Post, Statue to Korean War Dead, September 29, 1989.

San Diego Union, Artist Images Require Reflection, Robert L. Pincus, January 15, 1989.

Artweek, Judith Christensen, January 17, VoI. 20, 1989.

Los Angeles Times, San Diego Edition, Something Else is Going on in These Sculptures, Hilliard Harper, December 14, 1988.

San Diego Tribune, Mac Adams: Sculptural Surprises, Susan Freudenheim, December 28, 1988.

Los Angeles Times, Cathy Curtis, May 27, 1988.

Los Angeles Weekly, Amelia Jones, June 3-9, 1988.

Flash Art, Lucie Beyer, November/December, p. 12, 1987.

Flash Art, Photomannerisms, Klaus Ohmann, Oct/Nov. p. 71, 1987.

Village Voice, Kim Levin, May 29, 1987.

New York Times, Michael Brenson, May 29, 1987.

Art in America, Malice Aforethought, Paul Stimpson. pp. 114/117, January 1987.

Village Voice, Death of Photography, Gary Indiana, Sept. 30, 1986.

Artforum, Through the Narrative Portal, Max Kosloff, April, 1986.

The Real Big Picture Show, Queens Museum, New York, Marvin Heifferman, 1986.

New York Times, Vivian Raynor, Reviews, October 4, 1985.

The Toronto Star, Sculptures Play Mind Games, Christopher Hume, May 17, 1985.

Artforum, Patricia C. Philips, Review, p. 98, November 1984.

New York Times, Michael Brenson, Reviews, c. 27, August 14, 1984.

Flash Art, French Edition, Review, Philippe Piguet, October 1984.

Artforum, Jean Fisher, Review, February 1984.

Artforum, Charles Hagen, Review,, February 1984.

Village Voice, Top Forms, Kim Levin, May 24, 1983.

The Globe and Mail, Four Who Refuse to Follow the Herd, John Bentley Mays, Toronto, June 4, 1983.

Art News, Missing Persons, William Olander, Feb. 1983.

Zein Magazine, Staged Photo Events-The Frontiers of Meaning, Mariette Haveman, Fall 1982.

Dialogue Magazine, Assembling Tableaux, J.Z. Kamholtz, November 1982.

Dialogue Magazine, Tableaux, Amy Banister, September 1982.

Arts Magazine, Mystery and Meaning in the Work of Mac Adams, Kate Linker, February 1982.

The Print Collector's Newsletter, Narrative, Carter Ratcliff, No. 6, January-February 1982.

Vanguard Magazine, Patrick McGrath, 1981.

Aspects #9, Winter 1979-80.

Impulse, Mac Adams Mysteries, Spring 1980.

Arts Magazine, Mac Adams, R. Yoskowitz, February 1980.

Studio 46 publication, La Gabbia sui Pirenei, Torino, Piergiorgio Firinu, 1979.

The New York Times, Grace Glueck, Friday, December 7, 1979.

Kunstforum, G. Nabakowski, #32, February 1979.

Art Monthly, Ian Walker, #30, 1979.

Intermedia, La Folgorante Rifrazione del Thrilling, Raffaele Milani, School of Art & Art History, University of Iowa, 1979.

Studio G7 Publication, Mac Adams e iI Cinema Poliziesco Americano, Bologna, 1979.

Kunstmagazine, Profil II, May 1979.

Studio G7, Mac Adams' Sala Polivalente / Ferrara, Mariuccia Casadio.

Flash Art, January/February 1979.

4 Taxis, Folie Noire, pp. 40-41, No. 3/4, March 1979.

L'Espresso, Su Quel Muro C'e inn Romanzo, Renato Barilli, December 13, 1979.

Art International, New York Letter, Carter Ratcliff. VoI 11/3, 1978.

Studio G7, Detective Investigation and Involvement in the work of Mac Adams, Francesca Alinovi, 1978.

Arts Magazine, Mac Adams, Jonathan Craryp, June 1978.

Artscribe, No. 11 Mac Adams, Jonathan Bayer, Reviews, 1978.

Artforum, Jeffrey Keeffe, Review, May 1978.

Art News, Madeleine Burnside, New York Reviews, May 1978.

Arts Magazine, Mac Adams, Circumstantial Evidence, Kim Levin, April 1978.

Arts Magazine, Valentin Tatransky, Review, April 1978.

Soho Weekly News, Jean Perreault, March 2-8, 1978.

Flash Art, Post Conceptual Romanticism, December 1977.

Skira Annuel, L'Art pour qui?, p. 79, 1977.

Flash Art, Documenta issue, Summer 1977.

The Daily Iowan, Adams Art Surreal, Romantic, Judith Rew, Iowa City, 1977.

Dusseldorfer Feuilleton, March 17, 1977.

Handelsblalt Kur, Aus Den Galerien, March 8, 1977.

N.R.Z, Von Goswin Bach, Jeder Fuhlt sich wie ein kleiner Maigret, March 2, 1977.

Artforum, Mac Adams, The Mysteries, Eric Cameron, October 1976.

Domus, No. 559, June/July 1976.

Flash Art, Photography, A Specific Communication for Artistic Research, Ilaria Bignamini, May/June 1976.

Studio International, Margaret Sheffield, NY Reviews, May/June 1976.

File Magazine, New York, Issue 1976.

NY Magazine, Windows: Whodunit First, Dorothy Seiberling, May 24, 1976.

Arts Magazine, Nancy Grove, Reviews, April 1976.

Art News, Peter Frank, Reviews, April 1976.

Soho Weekly News, April Kingsley, March 4, 1976.

Interview Magazine, Ronnie Cutrone, March 1976.

Flash Art, June/July, 1975.

Artforum, Robert Pincus-Witten, Reviews, February 1975.

Artforum, James Collins, Reviews, January 1974.

Art News, Jane Gollin, Reviews, Summer 1972.

Art News, Sweet Mystery of Life, Amy Goldin, May 1969.

Photographs

Half Truths

Islands

Parallel Lives

Empty Spaces

Postmodern Tragedies

Mysteries

Installations

Searching for Lola Ramona

Claire's Room

The Glass Chandelier

Passenger

The Bathroom

Black Mail

Drawings

The Witness

The Passenger

Study for Staircase

Study II The Swimming Pool

Study for the Pool

Study for Fragments The Wall

Study for Still Life with Mozart Konzert

Untitled Record

Study for Looking through Blue

The Interrogation

The Kiss

Fire and Water V

Texts

Presentation

As far back as 1968, Mac Adams was giving new life to the narrative photography. In black and white, his first collection was called Mysteries, and told crime stories.

During those days, with Conceptual Art and Minimalism, art was being rebuilt and was about those factors that came from outside the work itself: pieces of evidence, documents, and auxiliary information. In response to this movement, Mac Adams introduced the idea of fiction into his photographs. While a participant in Conceptual art thinking, he reacted in a different way: in his narratives, everything is inside the picture, all the information is immediately accessible. Years later, other artists, such as Cindy Sherman would follow this same inclination.

That appropriation of the mass marketed thriller genre is an attempt to make the Semiotics of Roland Barthes more accessible to a broader audience. Dealing with criminality is also a way to understand human behavior through its depravity.

The social component is glaringly exposed in Mac Adams' work. And it is also worth noting that Mac Adams was born and studied in Wales, where there is a lively oral tradition, and local myths and tales mix the ordinary with the fantastic.

At first, Mac Adams created environments, setting up three-dimensional scenarios that were the sets for incidents - often violent - that might have taken place. Quickly, his installations turned into pictures, meticulously staged photographs. The process is cinematographic as much as photographic. The audience's view is guided and a near theatrical synopsis is created that puts as much information as possible into the image. Mac Adams is the director of actors and a set that he brings together for the moment when the picture is taken. Diptychs or a broken mirror effect are techniques he uses to demonstrate the passage of time: before and after. Clues are shown and the story is told.

In those days, Brice Marden's monochromatic diptychs impressed Mac Adams by the way he used an optical effect to put meaning between each panel. Mac Adams would take that process and use the diptychs to tell a story.

For him, though, the direct narrative of a police investigation is less interesting than an open story that makes possible different interpretations. He always starts with something made up and created in a medium other than paper. The story then exists before being transcribed, and there will be no special effects or touch-ups. The moment the camera shoots the picture one reality gives way to another, and it is the photograph that restores unity to the narration. As such, Mac Adams is like the artist who paints from nature: he is a witness to the scenario.

The witness is creator, and the viewer can only interpret what he sees in contradictory ways. The viewer becomes the new witness, lost in the multitude of elements that are both connected and distinct. As the viewer becomes an intimate of the story, he is witness and voyeur, spectator and participant. Mac Adams attacks the power of the picture and the manipulations of the picture-maker. He exposes the way meaning is distorted and controlled. What seems clear from the portrayal of a given reality is never the reality itself. It is the viewer who recreates the crime - if ever there was one.

Mac Adams is playing a game of the absurd and the rational with the ambiguous notion of reality. He speaks to that place, hard to define, found between what we see and what we know exists. Furthermore, his work is a reflection on the idea of art itself, on what it portrays, and on the place art holds which is in question here. Mac Adams work is a kind of suspended narration in which the spectator takes the primary role composing the story. His later work reveals these same concerns.

Press Articles

Click on the underlined parts to download the texts in pdf

Mac Adams, review by Judicaël Lavrador, Les Inrockuptibles #597, May 8 - 14, 2007.

Cluedo Photo, by Judicaël Lavrador, catalogue Mac Adams, Crimes of Perception, Editions du Regard, Paris, 2002.

Mac Adams, by Pascal Beausse, catalogue ExtraetOrdniaire, Printemps de Cahors, Editions Actes Sud, 1999.

Mac Adams, relating the facts, by Jacques Soulillou, Artpress #190, March 1994.