Ishmael Adams
Professor Doris Cacoilo
Studio Research 1
4/2/2026
Bio
21 year old BFA Illustration undergrad Ishmael S. Adams was raised in Union County, New Jersey. His love for art was clear at a young age being particularly engrossed in the stories of comics while he doodled in pieces of HW and notebook paper to pass the time. Throughout most of his high school education Ishmael was mainly self taught, using comics and manga as a guide for his art skills and education. That has however changed as Ishmael Adams currently attends New Jersey City University or NJCU as a Junior Illustration major. A great deal of his work involves traditional uses of charcoal and graphite and digital uses of Krita and Indesign respectively, using color in moderation to create works that show the cost of conflict and aftermath left in it's wake.
Artist Statement
My work tends to gravitate towards charcoal or greyscale work with hints of vibrancy throughout my collective work both digitally and traditionally with pen and pencil. Originally this was derived from always having pencil or pen around and not much else. Now, though I tend to put more color into my work, I find that the moderation of color leads to said color feeling even more vibrant than if it was just there in totality. In terms of stylistic direction my pieces tend to focus on mixing the mundanity of life with fantastical absurdity that stretches the bounds of the imagination. In those bounds of imagination my influences tend to present themselves in abundance, the work of painters like Neo Rauch, Jennifer Packer, Egon Mutter and comic illustrators like Gigi Cavenago, Mike Del Mundo and PePe Larraz have each fundamentally formed the basis of how I work.
My love for stories of all kinds is at the core of my work and my life, I've dedicated years to showing and making stories in my work, it's why in fact I became an illustrator. As a student of history that has both a love and frustration for these stories I want to show what happens to people after these big moments in history are done, that these cycles of destruction our society has wrought aren't over as soon as the cameras go away there are ripple effects that take hold into our lives. People have full lives beyond the big moments and it's those small moments that I believe allow us as people to understand one another.
This is well written, I like how you gave detail and explained who you are as an artist very clearly so people can visualize the type of work you do without actually seeing the physical artwork yet.
ReplyDeleteHey Ishmael!
ReplyDeleteThis is a strong bio and artist statement so far! Your passion for storytelling really comes through, and your focus on history and human experiences is very clear. For the bio, you could make it a bit smoother by shortening some sentences and using slightly more formal wording. This will help it read more clearly and feel more professional. For the artist statement, your ideas are interesting, especially your focus on what happens after major events and how people are affected. To improve it, you could make some sentences shorter and remove a bit of repetition, especially when talking about color. You could also make your ending a little more direct so your main point stands out more. Overall, this is a solid statement with a strong foundation!
I appreciate that exploration of how your particular style developed from pencil sketching to charcoal and dips into color use. It helps paint a very clear picture of not only your preferred medium but what your works could look like without looking at the physical work themselves.
ReplyDelete