JJ Adams

Life

JJ Adams was born in Plymouth, England in March 1978. The son of a Baptist minister, he currently lives in Croydon, London. 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 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 JJ decided to move to London to become a tattoo artist. He describes giving up the dream 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 and graphic design 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

Adams has done exhibitions with the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bang & Olufsen and been featured in magazines such as Vogue and GQ. He 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 Derric 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. He has described picking the subjects of his work based on whether he considers them iconic, whether they influenced him and where he enjoyed their work while growing up.

2015 saw the launch of a special piece entitled 'Love Gun' to coincide with Valentine's Day featuring the iconic symbol of love - a cherub - except in place of the traditional bow and arrow together with pierced love heart, Adams incorporated modern symbols of warfare and a bullet-ridden heart.

Exhibitions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

16 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.

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

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

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

Media coverage

1. Plymouth Herald - Artist, JJ Adams makes his mark on famous names

2. Staffordshire Sentinel - JJ Adams visits Congleton's Attitude Gallery

3. Cheshire Life - Interview with award winning artist, JJ Adams