Longlati Foundation is excited to present Marina Adams’s debut institutional solo exhibition in Asia, “In the Garden of My Memory,” featuring eleven large-scale acrylic and watercolor paintings and four scroll intaglio monoprints on paper inspired by Chinese folded books.
Poetry is a crucial component of Adams’s artistic practice, intertwining language and painting, opening a pathway through its ineffable sensory experience. “In the Garden of My Memory” is derived from Ted Berrigan’s poem Tambourine Life. Perhaps this phrase struck Adams in her studio on a summer afternoon and leapt off the page. Here, it functions as a cryptic invitation, inviting viewers to journey through the artist’s vibrant realm of memories constructed through colors. Like poetry, Adams’s artworks don’t provide specific imagery or narratives, yet they vividly convey her perspectives and contemplation of the world. Impressions drawn from nature, music, fabrics, architecture, and literature are transformed into dynamic colors, humming with the physical resonance of individual existence through the canvas as if its structure were a kind of grammar, and light and shadow serve as its tones. These pieces traverse the boundaries of diverse logical fields, directly reaching the channels of individual senses.
Marina Adams, Borrowed Time, 2017, acrylic on linen, 198.1 x 172.7 cm. Collection of Longlati Foundation. Image courtesy of the artist
Adams’s creations should be understood as abstract expressionism within the realm of color field painting. On the one hand, she follows the tradition of color field painting, emphasizing the ontological superiority of overall form and color in the painting, thereby discarding the once-prominent symbols and rhetoric. On the other hand, distinct from the typical serenity and meticulousness of color field paintings, she consistently infuses her colors with spiritual energy, imbuing her paintings with vitality. They undoubtedly emanate from the artist’s bodily rhythm, interpreted into live abstractions through brushes and pigments.
About the Artist
▲ Marina Adams. Courtesy of the artist and Lévy Gorvy Dayan. Photo: Dan Bradica
Marina Adams earned degrees from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA and Columbia University, New York, NY. She is the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (2016) and the Award of Merit Medal for Painting from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2018). Adams has participated in various solo and group exhibitions, including the Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY (2021), Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth (2020), Camden Arts Centre, London, UK (2016), and CUE Art Foundation (2008). Marina Adams’ work is in the collections of the MoMA, New York, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Longlati Foundation, Shanghai. She lives and works in New York, Bridgehampton, Long Island, and Parma, Italy.
