User:Supertack/Jjadams

JJ Adams

Jason John Adams (born 15th March 1978) is an English mixed media artist. He currently lives in Croydon, London. Jason is considered to be a contemporary Pop Artist and has been featured in Vogue, GQ, and Cheshire Life Magazine.

=Life= Jason Adams was born in Plymouth, England on 15th March 1979 to baptist minister John Leslie Adams and his wife Janine Lucia Adams. The first of three children, Jason moved with his parents to Cape Town, South Africa in 1984. There, he studied at Bergvliet High school, later continuing to study Graphic design at Cape City College. Adams has been described as a rebellious child, being expelled from boarding school and kicked out of college after smashing a window with an electric guitar. While living in Cape Town he worked in a 'Wildfire Tattoos' tattoo parlour for several years, which he says influenced his interests. Jason's family returned to Plymouth, England in 1998.

From here Jason decided to move to London to try to become a tattoo artist. He describes giving up on when he 'realised it wasn't what I was meant to be.' After several years working in Camden Market, Jason returned to Plymouth where he attended Plymouth College of Art to study commercial printing. After his studies, Adams moved to Kingsbridge, Plymouth and started his own commercial sign printing business while working on his art in his spare time.

In 2009 after selling a few of his acrylic paintings through a local gallery he decided it was time to move back to London and finally pursue his art career.

=Work= JJ describes his work as a simple formula of mixing old and new. He uses a range of mixed media formats including spray paint, hand painting acrylics, screen printing, collage, digital matte painting and photography.

Adams says his biggest influence is South African artist Derrric van Rensburg alongside others such as Norman Rockwell, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Sir Peter Blake. Most of his inspiration comes films, television and the city of London where he currently lives.

In 2014 Adams made a series of images featuring Star Wars characters, describing the films as a big part of his childhood. It is reported 14 of these original prints were sold within five minutes of being unveiled. JJ has described picking the subjects of his work based on whether he considers them iconic, whether them influenced him and where he enjoyed their work while growing up.

=Exhibitions= 4th - 12th May 2013 - Grand Designs Live, Excel London – with Eyeball Gallery.

24th - 25th May 2013 - Exhibiting at the Great British Tattoo Show.

26th - 29th Sept 2013 - Exhibiting at Manchester Buy Art Fair with Cloud Gallery.

4th Oct 2013 - Solo Exhibition at Hoxton Street Studios in Shoreditch, sponsored by Absolut Vodka.

9th - 10th Nov 2013 - Windsor Contemporary Art Fair at Royal Windsor Racecourse.

21st Feb 2014 – Solo Exhibition evening at Cloud Gallery Fine Art in Chester.

28th Feb 2014 – Solo Exhibition evening at Cloud Gallery Fine Art in Worthing.

6th March 2014 – Solo Exhibition evening at Images in Frames in Wanstead, London.

14th - 30th March 2014 - Exhibiting with Urban Gallery, Ideal Home Show, Earls Court. Stand 2J33.

3rd April 2014 – Solo Exhibition evening at Generation Gallery in Manchester.

7th April 2014 – Solo Exhibition with Serenity Designs at Quigley's Wine Bar, sponsored by Hunters Gin.

26 - 27th April - Exhibiting at Reading Contemporary Art Fair with Cloud Gallery.

3rd - 12th May 2014 Exhibiting at Grand Designs Live, Excel London – with Eyeball Gallery.

24 - 27th May 2014 - Exhibiting at Liverpool Art Fair with Cloud Gallery Fine Art.

16th Aug 2014 - Solo Exhibition evening at Cloud Gallery Fine Art in Brighton 3-9pm.

12th Sept 2014 - Exhibition evening at Images in Frames in Wanstead, London.

26th - 28th Sept 2014 - Exhibiting at Manchester Buy Art Fair with Cloud Gallery Fine Art.

7th Nov 2014 - Solo Exhibition with Attitude Gallery, Congleton.

8th - 9th Nov 2014 - Exhibiting with Cloud Gallery at the Windsor Art Fair.

14th - 16th Nov 2014 - Exhibiting with Robertson Fine Art at the Edinburgh Art Fair.