Artist: Adam Lister
Medium: Watercolour (16″ x 12″)
Date Purchased: December 2017
Price purchased: $2…USD
Story: I first came across Adam Lister’s work in a collaboration he did with a Bathing Ape back in 2016. He applied his pixilated style to the iconic Bape logo and released a set of tshirts and canvas prints through Bape stores across the globe.
Outside of his Bape collaboration, he would apply his interpretation to a variety of themes such as sneakers, cartoon characters, well known paintings, as well as hip hop legends. I was drawn to most of these themes, notably the hip hop legends. Recently (November 2017) he also exhibited at the Arsham/Fieg Gallery at Kith New York. The show titled, “Configuration” featured a selection of Adam’s geometric reductive watercolor paintings which included reinterpretations based on iconic paintings of women from art history.
Knowing I was a fan of his work, when my wife came across some of the press for his Configuration show, she found his site and noticed some links for custom pieces. She reached out and inquired about having an interpretation made of one of our favourite prints, Yoshitomo Nara’s Cosmic Girl, as a Christmas gift surprise. They came out wonderfully and we were so happy with them. What a surprise!
Another funny story is that we went to take a look at his exhibit at the Arsham/Fieg Gallery on Black Friday 2017. There were long lines to get into the Kith store for the sales (where the gallery was situated on the third floor). We tried to avoid the lines, even telling the store security that we were “only here for the gallery”. They ignored us, looking as though they had never heard of the gallery and basically told us to line up. When we finally made it in, we realized “the gallery” was the size of a small walk in closet and was only a scale model (1:4 – 1:6). No wonder everyone stared at us with blank eyes when we asked about the gallery. The work still looked fantastic and the gallery model was fantastic!
2016 Adam Lister x Bape Collaboration:
Bape Paris store opening 2017 (Lister camo and Bape mural at entrance)
Adam Lister Hip Hop Legends:
“Configuration” at the Arsha/Fieg Gallery (Kith New York):
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