NEW PAINTINGS BY KRISTIAN ADAM

At Saint-Germain Café Gallery

August 21, 2015 – October 28, 2015

Kristian Adam brings his new collection of NymNums to Saint-Germain Café Gallery this summer in a show titled PECULIAR BEASTS. It is an exhibit unlike any other that has been shown at the gallery (or in Penticton, for that matter), and it is sure to spark the imagination of children and adults alike. Adam’s finely detailed paintings reveal a host of characters (or NymNums) that, while at first appear magical and childlike, stand for the roles humans have in society, and the consequences humans’ misguided thoughts and actions have on that same society… and the world. Adam’s work has been displayed in the Canadian Embassies of Japan, Korea and China, and has routinely been published in books and magazines. He regularly exhibits throughout Vancouver and in galleries around the world.

A self-taught artist in nearly every medium, Adam has developed his style and techniques through trial and error. In the past, Dr. Seuss’s body of work and works like the ‘Codex Seraphinianus’, which is filled with surrealistic and organic Rube Golberg-like, Heath Robinson-style contraptions, have helped serve as inspiration in creating his whimsical other-worldly landscapes and devices. However, for PECULIAR BEASTS, his inspiration comes from a much smaller force of nature… his four-year old cousin Ava. “Watching Ava draw makes me really nostalgic for that naiveté and spontaneity I had when I was young,” Adam says. “I just didn’t over think things back then. I feel more neurotic about my art now. It can be a bit stressful. So I envy the place that Ava creates from.” PECULIAR BEASTS will include a collection of collaborations between Adam and his cousin Ava.

The NYMNUMS scampered into the world in 2009 in an exhibition featuring more than 60 paintings and drawings, and a book of 10 illustrated short stories written by Michael Sasi. The NymNums, which Adam says he created as “a way to live through his childhood eternally,” served as the prototype for his ANIMALOPOLIS exhibit the following year. ANIMALOPOLIS contained an even larger collection of characters and 13 short stories, which were published in a limited-edition issue of CROW TOES QUARTERY, an art and literature magazine for children, published by Saint-Germain Café Gallery’s Christopher Millin. Since then, his characters have appeared in exhibits titled FLOMBAGOO, THE PUMPKIN GANG, PANDACORN PARK and A WOODLAND RECITAL.

Kristian Adam’s PECULIAR BEASTS exhibition opens at Saint-Germain Café Gallery on Friday, August 21st. The opening reception runs from 5 pm – 9 pm. The exhibit continues through October 28th, 2015. For more information, please contact Christopher Millin at Saint-Germain Café Gallery.