Keegan Adams: Process ; Print ; Parable

As a young child, Keegan Adams (MFA, Indiana University, 2014) remembers his grandfather describing his engraving process as “ice skating over the plate.” Although at first this may seem to be a simplified way for a child to understand a complex process, the memory itself provides us with some clues into the meaning and process behind Adams’s own work.

First is the idea of the plate, which is used to transfer ink to paper in the printmaking process, as a geographic place—complete with hills and valleys. Adams works mainly in intaglio printmaking, an Italian word which means “to cut into.” In intaglio (which encompasses the techniques of etching, engraving, and drypoint), the grooves that are cut into the plate (whether by a hand tool or by chemicals, as in etching) hold the ink beneath the surface until immense pressure is used by way of printing press to transfer it to dampened paper. In some instances, Adams also builds up these same plates with collography, a process where the artist adds three-dimensional, raised areas to the surface of the plate, so the ink sits on top. The resulting prints that come from these three-dimensional topographies hold the traces of their history and are analogous to Adams’s own history, from the personal to the political.

Embedded within Adams’s images are layers of memory. The prints are part of his ongoing visual journaling process. There is a darkness to them that suggests pain and ancestral grief. We see glimpses into the artist’s experience of living with Type 1 diabetes. We see vintage family photos and distant memories drawn from Midwestern interiors and Adams’s Shawnee Native American heritage. Skulls feature prominently, as do feathers and birds. Viewers are given clues to, but never a literal explanation of, this history. Red ink on the paper reads as smears of blood, suggesting diabetes treatment, its history, and the violence of American colonization and the tragic genocide of its indigenous peoples. Bluish vapors rise from weathered portraits as identities fade into aether. Objects and articles of clothing act as homages to specific people from Adams’s life, including his father, Michael Adams (also a printmaker), whom he lost in September of last year. Each of Adams’s prints is a momento mori of sorts, reminding us of our shared mortality and human history, in all its beauty and ugliness.

Process ; Print ; Parable also includes several of the copper plates used to create the prints in the exhibition, allowing viewers to see the evolution of Adams’s own printmaking processes. Another highlight is the inclusion of mixed media works on paper in pencil, pastel, and watercolor, along with prints layered with more direct mark-making in these mediums. The exhibition will run from September 26 through November 15 at Chrysalis Annex Gallery. A reception for the artist will be held from 6 to 8 pm on Saturday, October 3.

CHRYSALIS ARTIST STUDIOS
1541 East 38th Street, Second Floor
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
chrysalisartiststudios.com
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EVENTS:

Keegan Adams: Process ; Print ; Parable, September 26–November 15. Artist reception 6-8pm Saturday, October 3

Chrysalis Open Studios, 5-9pm Saturdays, September 26 & October 31