Adam Beeman is an artist living and working in Ann Arbor, MI. In all walks of life, he prides himself in finding and creating art with nearly everything he does. Adam is a painter, photographer, cake artist, visual thinker, “the guy who likes to play with his food,” and a lover of graphic design; a freelance creative, if you will. The creation of art is essential to his human spirit.
Artist Statement
Life inspiring art. Art inspiring life. Art inspiring art. What inspires me?
My inspirations include the incomparable Andrew Salgado, Jenny Saville, Basquiat, and Van Gogh. I’m a sucker for thick paint, rich colors, and fantastical hidden moments in paintings. The kind you can stare at for hours and always find something new.
These are the kind of moments and types of art I thrive to create. Paintings that make people think… that make people feel. Although certain emotions and feelings are purposely inlayed into paintings, I adore how subjective art is - people might and often feel completely different things than initially intended; I find this wildly exciting.
I like to describe my work as an intersection of realism and abstraction. Bringing about shapes and forms that people might deem realistic is the basis for my work; the human form is engaging, beautiful, and weirdly transformative - this has quickly become my favorite subject. A brushstroke can say a lot. A face full of brushstrokes can say exponentially more. Each painting - each subject - becomes an exploration in color. Once you realize the power a painter’s palette can provide, it is hard and frankly silly to subject one’s self and work to a painstakingly realistic version of the world on canvas. Instead, I want my paintings to evoke a sense of fantasy.
Certain colors speak to urgency, to excitedness, to sadness or to grief. A vibrant red may symbolize fear to someone, but joy or freedom to someone else. Put together, however, these colors bring life to an otherwise 2D space, inviting the viewer to get lost in a world where the rights and wrongs of color don’t exist. Like music, I want my paintings to be a source of escapism for people. Not away from the world or their problems... Instead, toward something. To stare. To think. To change the way they see color in the world around them. There’s inspiration all around us - in the most fleeting of moments and mundane aspects of life. Art can and should celebrate these - color makes this possible.
