JPS Gallery is pleased to announce Curtain Call, a solo exhibition by Adam Linn, on view at the gallery’s location in Tokyo. This exhibition marks the artist’s international debut and first solo show with JPS, showcasing a series of works that exemplify themes of seduction and adaptability through the lens of anthropomorphism.
For his first show with the gallery Linn constructed a theatrical affair letting us observe and participate in the suspense and eagerness of each scene. His anthropomorphic character(s), ambiguously being one or many in the family, are presented in campy exaggerated settings, suspiciously gazing through the curtain as if looking through a peephole, a dust ruffle or their hiding place. Ready to pounce at any second, these characters portray theatricality in vivid hues. With seemingly classic methods of coloured pencil, pastel and crayon on paper and panels, Linn builds narratives that destroy (yet create) pretensions, and aim to expose artificiality through beautifully compact stories that tighten our (and his) alertness and focus.
A traditional “curtain call” in theatre productions occurs at the end of a performance when performers return to the stage to be recognised by the audience for their performance. Often met with sustained applause, the performers hold their stance whilst being confronted by a sea of bodies they cannot fully discern. This phrase encapsulates Linn’s exhibition as the “performers” are the characters of this anthropomorphised world who are fully aware of their position. The figures in many of these works acknowledge or “perform” for the viewer while deceiving perceptions and truths simultaneously.
About Adam Linn
Adam Linn’s drawings depict flamboyant contortions of an anthropomorphic world that probes how seductions can operate in the grotesque and how this relationship mirrors queer self-discovery and intimacy. His magenta hued skin pussycat character, often donning a suspicious grin, challenges the dichotomies between the real and imagined, feminine and masculine, as well as hidden and exposed.
JPS Gallery (Hong Kong)
218-219, Landmark Atrium,
15 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong
