This exhibition revolves around a specific choice of pictures from 1997-2006, on canvas and wood. The emphasis here is on Adach's distinctive treatment of history via autobiography, fiction and a transcending of the figurative.
La Galerie, Contemporary Art Centre in Noisy-le-Sec, has invited Adam Adach to present his
first solo exhibition in an art institution of Paris Region. Of Polish origin, Adam Adach took his diploma at the École des beaux-arts in Paris in 1995.
In France, his work had drawn attention in various group exhibitions – "Urgent Painting",
ARC-MAMVP, 2002; "Voir en peinture", Le Plateau - Frac Île-de-France, 2003; the hanging
of the Centre Pompidou collection, 2004 – but he had not had a solo exhibition since those at
the Galerie Jean Brolly in Paris (2003 and 2005), the Chagall Museum in Nice (2005) and the
Château des Adhémar in Montélimar (2004).
The Noisy-le-Sec exhibition revolves around a specific choice of pictures from 1997–2006,
on canvas and wood. Some of them are large-format and are being shown in France for the
first time. The emphasis here is on Adach's distinctive treatment of history via autobiography,
fiction and a transcending of the figurative. More so than in the earlier exhibitions, this
selection highlights a deliberate uncertainty as to subject matter and constant changes of
media that preclude any "style" label. The choice also tends to emphasise the role of
abstraction in a pictorial practice nonetheless described as figurative.
The exhibition highlights some of the issues addressed by Adach's work: the civilized as
opposed to the natural (Natural State, 2004); man's sometimes hostile relationship with his
natural, industrial and urban environments [Low Beam (1997), Ionisation (2005)];the building of a society, whether one really existing between the Soviet era and now
[Foundations (2002), Wooden Houses (2005), Meeting Point (2004)], or one dreamed up in
science fiction (Aelita Back and Forward, 2006); utopia and its inbuilt element of failure
(Utopia, 2004); and lastly the representation of history – especially fascism and other forms
of totalitarianism (Ministry of Communication, 2006) – with a view to suggesting rather than
portraying historical fact [Untitled (Treblinka), 2004].
Marked by the apparent disparity of media, formats and techniques that characterizes
Adach's practice, the works will be grouped together meaningfully in cinema-style
sequences. They will be complemented by a site-specific intervention by the artist that takes
some of the questions raised by the exhibition out of the gallery and calls on us to reconsider
the surrounding reality.
Opening night Friday 23 November from 6 - 9pm
in the presence of the artist
La Galerie Contemporary Art Centre
1rue Jean-Jaures, Noisy-le-Sec
Free admission