Peninsula Presents Adhemar Ahmad at Outsider Art Fair
The paintings, drawings, and collages of East Harlem-based artist and street-side bookseller Adhemar Ahmad (b. 1965) display the interior focus of the avid chess player; observational and instinctual while also being deeply contemplative and intentional. Evoking in equal parts the paintings of Jacob Lawrence and Milton Avery, scrappy handmade punk zines, and Bill Traylor’s visceral color pencil drawings, Ahmad’s work combines Modernist sensibilities with prints and illustrations seen within alternative print media.
Bold swaths of color are rendered onto simplified geometric angular forms to create expressive settings and figures. Earthy, neutral tones are juxtaposed with bright, intensely vivid artificial colors, heightening their visual impact. Additionally, the forms within Ahmad’s works are often rendered in or placed directly next to found materials and other rough-hewn gathered objects. Scraps of vinyl, slabs of thin wood, torn-up photographs, and altered projector slides are collected, combined, and layered upon unprimed canvas. Wrinkles, tears, fraying fabric, and uneven edges and lumps are left visible, amplifying the raw, yet sensitive nature of each of Ahmad’s pieces. Gestural text and simple, sketched-on line drawings are also featured prominently on the surface of the various canvases. Titles, years of completion, and Ahmad’s signature are shown front and center, further cementing the intimate quality of the works and the artist’s presence.
