A.D. Strange

Aldous Huxley, the British writer, once wrote, “There are things known, and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.” Adam Strange creates his digital photomontages in that space between the known and unknown. The space is made of the thin unreliability of memory and shards of lived experience, which are reconstructed into stark forms and landscapes, resulting in nuanced, disturbing and sensual images. The pieces are journeys from the purely aesthetic to a sacramental vision. There is a discordant beatific vision in the absence of colour, which engenders a lack of visual and emotional information. The removal of this content from the picture requires the viewer to confront a stark reality immediately. Light and shade, and blackness become the primary language for interpreting the image.

These are montages of realism. By turns, demanding, fearful, and disorienting. They are fit representations of the times we live in.

The digital artist’s nature is to sample and be a Visual Sampler or a Visual Producer. I see the art making process as analogous to the Dub Producer making a record. The artist/producer Lee “Scratch” Perry, for example, both conducts studio musicians and also assembles, modifies and manipulates the sounds he uses not just in real time, but also afterwards with overdubs, vocals and effects to colour the source material into his own musical vision. There are also parallels between my approach and montage in film: both represent a way to portray multiple points of view or a journey through time or space that are then assembled into a unified image. I see stock photo sites as a reflection of the collective unconscious. Some of the sampled images within the montage are curated or randomly selected and juxtaposed to arrive at a visual context in which the elements are transfigured. The artist no longer portrays a point of view, but illicits from the viewer the same response to the world that they had while making it.

Adam Strange graduated from the Ontario College of Art (OCA) in 1992 with a focus on magic-realism and old master technique. Adam studied and was influenced heavily by the direction and guidance of his father, an artist and technical illustrator, as well as OCA professor Carmen Cereceda, a Chilean muralist who was an assistant of Diego Rivera. Adam’s artwork has seen his tools change from traditional materials into the digital realm but the journey has remained the same… challenging viewers to question the world around them and to live in a world of their own making.

PAINTING WITH PIXELS – O’HANLON ONLINE GALLERY SHOW
Chasing Ghosts VII: Portland OR
Strange Figurations: LIMNER GALLERY, Hudson, NY
MAGIX - 2022: Biafarin Online Exhibition
Diversia September 2022: Biafarin Online Exhibition
Digital Art, Collage and Assemblage exhibition: LIMNER GALLERY, Hudson, NY
ART IN THE TIME OF CORONA™ ONLINE EXHIBITION | VOL.3 | 2022 (YEAR 3): DAB ART CO.
Society of Canadian Artist's 54th International Open Juried Exhibition: Toronto
Surrealism now!: Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
Worlds Collide Exhibition: Grosse Pointe Artists Association Gallery, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI
smARTwork (Online): Southern Tier Center for Emerging Artist’s (STCEA), NY: (Best in Show + 2nd place)
Society of Canadian Artist's 2022 International Open Juried Online Exhibition (2nd place Honourable Mention)
Black and White show: Grosse Pointe Artists Association Gallery, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI (Honourable Mention)
BLACK AND/OR WHITE: Tall Grass Arts Association, Park Forest, IL (2nd Place)