Art

Adam Beris paints amalgamations of decontextualized signs and symbols rooted in American consumerist culture from the late 90s and early aughts. Celebrating and disrupting traditional relationships between object, subject, foreground, and background, Beris perforates these recognizable graphics with unexpected (and abstract) paint applications—squeezing paint directly from tube to canvas, palette knifing shapes of paint, or adhering salvaged bits of failed paintings onto surfaces. Floating in the ether or grounded by a painting’s edge are Beris’ ever- expanding lexicon of extruded glyphs, each informed by language, infographics, slot machines, and social media. Aligned in grids, these symbols function like desktop icons each accessing its own deep well of information, but Beris also paints them discarded and tangled amongst puffy blades of grass. With self-deprecating humor, cultural criticism, and snappy witticism, Beris’ paintings reflect desire and encapsulate the hunt for meaning within a fragmented landscape. Beris (b. 1987, Milwaukee, WI) received a dual degree in Painting and Creative Writing from Kansas City Art Institute in 2009. Beris' work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues including Tang Contemporary and OTI in Hong Kong, China; Primary in Miami, FL; MCC Longview Cultural Center in Lee’s Summit, MO; Over the Influence in Hong Kong and Los Angeles, CA; Y53 and OCHI in Los Angeles, CA; The Omaha Creative Institute in Omaha, NE; and OCHI in Los Angeles, CA and Sun Valley, ID. Beris’ work has been featured in publications including e-flux, Hyperallergic, Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles, Miami New Times, Juxtapoz, Hypebeast, and Maake. Beris currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and is represented by OCHI.