Kristian Adam’s New Solo Exhibit at Ayden Gallery is on display from November 4th to December 4th, 2011
(Vancouver, BC) Ayden Gallery presents, Flombagoo, a new collection of original paintings by Kristian Adam. This is the eleventh show in three years for Adam and the third solo exhibit in as many years at Ayden.
The series of 60 new whimsical and narrative character works combine themes of nature and invention from the humorous perspective of animals.
“I am used to dealing strictly with themes of nature,” says Adam. “This time I wanted to add technology and invention to the mix and observe the chaos.” There are not many humans in the paintings. Instead viewers will find highly anthropomorphic animals called nym nums in their place. “Dr. Seuss’s body of work and a book called the Codex Seraphinianus—brilliant books filled with surrealistic and organic Rube Golberg-like contraptions—served as big inspiration to creating some of my own weird devices.”
His last two exhibits at Ayden were critical and commercial successes, drawing heavily on the use of narrative, and perfectly balancing sardonic humor with serious themes. “I knew I wanted to create humorous inventions that didn’t really serve an obvious purpose or function and also had a simple childlike appearance to them,” he says. “I found after a few concept sketches, I became more and more drawn to the narrative and conversation that started to happen in each piece.”
Adam states that the name ‘flombagoo’ started as a character concept from his last show, Animalopolis, and became the word he used to describe the anthropomorphic behaviors of the nym nums as he drew them. He adds, “The character was later fully-crystallized in my mind as ‘Bill Flombagoo’, who is the intelligent leader of the nym nums. He will certainly be appearing in a future show.”
The works are on display from November 4th to December 4th, 2011. To view more of Kristian’s work, please visit his website at nymnum.com and aydengallery.com for more details on the exhibit.
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