Is there any symbol more potent than the pyramid?

The cross, perhaps. But the cross lacks the flexibility of the pyramid, which benefits from the loss of its cultural context. Untethered from place or purpose, it is a blank trapezoid onto which any and all ideas can be projected, unrestrained by geography or time. If pyramids hadn't been constructed by all manner of ancient civilizations (astral or otherwise), most certainly a savvy marketing executive of our own time would have invented them.

It is the paradox of the pyramid which underlies the art of Jim Adams. Although a historically specific construct, it attains strength in the light of the current moment: as, variously, a monument to cultural memory; the landing site or temple of extra-terrestrial beings; a symbol both of patriotism and efforts to curtail it; and, perhaps more saliently, the embodiment of Afro-Futurist ideals.

However, as Adams reminds us, it is also an “eternal symbol;” it is always more than what it seems. Its cache extends beyond its own history. Likewise, Adams' myths always extend beyond their own precepts; they are never fixed, never singular, never the monoliths they may appear to be. Nor does Adams himself cling to the identities of a specific moment or place. He is akin more to an oral storyteller—his words seeming to communicate eternal truths, and yet embellishing them with his own, deeply idiosyncratic flourishes.

In the postmodern era, such narratives have lost their currency. From a contemporary anthropological perspective, they make totalizing assumptions about the equivalence of cultures; from a post-colonial perspective, they are a form of the hegemony imposed upon those same cultures. Yet, they also provide the grist for other, latter-day forms of social expression, such as the New Age movement (enthusiastically rekindled by an anxious Millennial generation), or, by contrast, Afro-Futurism. In a sense, the latter embraces the universalizing logic of Hegel et. al by arguing for an imaginative, magical unification of subjects beyond borders, space, and time—though, of course, it undoes this logic through a racialized, diasporic lens.

The works on display at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles primarily draw from Adams' Mythic Sketches, a body of work Adams has pursued consistently over the past three decades. They manifest mostly as studies of pyramids, or the previously mentioned portraits of deities. In a prior statement on the series, Adams notes that he portrays these figures in the garb of contemporary fashion in much the same way that historical painters portrayed mythical figures in the fashion of their own time  (it is telling that, while observers of Adams' work are often quick to assume this decision has symbolic meaning, the same cannot be said for portrayals of Christ or the Roman pantheon within the Western canon).

Adams also states that these sketches function in much the same way they have always done in the history of figurative painting: as a preliminary means of rendering visual ideas, to be refined into a more finished work at a later date. In both their function and in their casting of the subject within the contemporary moment, the Sketches are comparable to the studies of any number of historical artists.

Even if they do not appear in a larger-scale canvas, they are nevertheless their conceptual origin, providing Adams with the means to see things in perspective. This is often literally the case, as when Adams portrays his subjects either posing upon, or at distance from, a pyramid, though more often it is an intangible prism through which the events of a given scene occur. In other words, the pyramid is the antediluvian launch pad for Adams' forays into an array of different subjects.

There is something to be said for the consistency with which Adams returns to these works. They belie the position of an artist who has steadfastly refused to succumb to the dominant trends of painting within the contemporary art world, and particularly in Vancouver, which ascended within the global art world concurrently to Adams' own development as an artist. They reflect Adams' fascination with the eternal recurrence of conflict and the perennial truths of myth, a la Campbell; but the paradox of this position is that it is itself deeply personal, arguably to the point that it has alienated Adams from the broader community in which he otherwise participates. In a contemporary art market ravenous for the relentlessly new, Adams stands apart in his uncompromising commitment to his own vision of the world.

The poet Lavinia Greenlaw said: “The past leads us to the future by reminding us that our perceptual framework is ours alone and will not sustain.” The breadth of Adams' oeuvre (of which only a fraction is present at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles) is testament to the singularity of Adams' perception. Though he may address himself to a myriad of subjects—family and friends, nebulae and Nubia, microcosm and macrocosm—such statements always issue from the pyramid, looming over all, a silent witness. It encompasses all our hopes and fears, but in order to do this, it must never be commensurable to any one text. The universal symbol reserves something within its depths, something which does not translate. That which is held over is irreducible, unique only to Adams. 

Behind the mythical, there is the individual—and yet it is precisely because Adams establishes the mythical in terms of the individual that he transcends the perspectives that time imposes upon our lives.

In his 2019 untitled self-portrait, the artist portrays himself wearing a space suit. This work is the latest in a long line of self-portraits, going back to the 1970s, where Adams appears in the form of a pilot. His destination is the upper echelons of the atmosphere, and beyond, where he is not beholden to the strictures of discourse, or the passing of time. From this lofty plane, he is able to see the world from a distance, untethered by the affairs of mortals. Here, he charters a course into alien territory, beyond terra firma. 

James Lowell Adams was born in 1943 in Philadelphia, PA.  Adams received his bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Temple University (1965) and his master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania (1968).  While in university he focused on printmaking, and it wasn’t until he discovered acrylic paints that his dream of becoming a painter soared and with it 20 years of paintings dealing with his passion for aviation and flight—today considered a seminal body of work in the artist’s career.  Adams began his teaching career at the Fleisher Memorial Art School; he also taught in California at Cal State Long Beach and the Laguna Beach School of Art and Design. He moved to Canada in 1969 and, after a short time in Vancouver, settled in Surrey, BC, and took a position in the Fine Arts Department at Douglas/Kwantlen University College, where he taught until his retirement in 2000. 

Among Adams’ most prominent exhibitions are “The Irretrievable Moment” (2017), a retrospective presented concurrently at The Surrey Art Gallery in Surrey and The Reach Gallery Museum in Abbotsford; “Mythic Sketches” at the Newton Cultural Centre, Surrey; “Re: Mix” at the Surrey Art Gallery; and “Tribute: The Art of African Canadian Artists” at the Peel Art Gallery Museum + Archives in Brampton, ON, and the Mississauga Art Gallery in Mississauga, ON.  He has also been featured in solo and group exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC; Amelia Douglas Gallery, New Westminster, BC; Thames Art Gallery, Chatham, ON; Richmond Art Centre, Richmond, BC; A Space Gallery, Toronto, ON; Metro Hall, Toronto; The Berkeley Centre, Yale University, New Haven, CT; Peterson Library, University of Connecticut, West Haven, CT; and numerous other venues.  

Rhys Edwards is a critic, artist, and curator. His art practice employs figurative painting and drawing techniques in the pursuit of anti-representation. He has written for C Magazine, Canadian Art, The Capilano Review, and BC Studies. In 2015, he co-founded the Agent C Gallery with artist Debbie Tuepah in the Newton region of Surrey, BC, and in 2019 he was nominated for the Salt Spring National Art Prize. He works as Assistant Curator at Surrey Art Gallery, BC, and lives in Vancouver, BC.