A Conversation with Adam Adelson

Executive Director of Adelson Galleries and Board Member of the Bobby Anspach Studios Foundation

Q: Before we dive into your work with the foundation, could you share a little bit about your journey into the art world and what drew you to establish your gallery?

When I was in college, I studied art history. I come from a family of art dealers—my dad started the gallery in 1964. His specialty has always been early American paintings, 19th, 20th century, early 20th century American paintings, old masters, historical works. So it seemed to me that art history was a logical major.

But when I was a senior in college, I was going through self reflection and realized I didn't want to spend my life studying history textbooks. I wanted to somehow add to history. I took a contemporary art class, and that changed my perspective on what contemporary art is and how it relates to the history of art.

Adelson Galleries in Palm Beach

Before I graduated, I curated an exhibition above a skateboard shop in Boston called "Nature's Helmet, the Human Skull." I told the artists to make anything they wanted in line with that subject. That experience allowed me to see the process of conceptualizing an exhibition, being part of the creation of the work, witnessing it come to life, and connecting artists with new owners. It gave me a profound sense of purpose that I had never really had before.

I opened Adelson Gallery Boston in October 2012 with the help of my sister, Alexa, as an extension outside of our father’s New York gallery. After seven years in Boston, we moved to Florida, where I've been for seven years now. I've discovered that what works for my business is showing artwork that really has meaning to me. It's been rewarding to discover and represent artists and support them and myself with this passion for what they create.

Q: How did you meet Bobby Anspach, and what impressed you about his approach to art?

I met Bobby within the first year of opening my gallery, around 2012. Interestingly, I didn't meet him in the context of an artist—he never once asked me to show his work in my gallery. I met him through his brother Mike.

“The foundation of our relationship wasn’t through the art world, which is interesting because that was his life and that was my life. We connected as human beings just trying to get through life. It was almost more of a spiritual connection, seeing this guy who was on a very similar path to me in the art world.”

As I got to know him better, I got to see the artwork he created, which very much reflected who I thought he was. There was a spontaneity in what he made—very colorful and made out of necessity. Early on, I understood that he was trying to express his understanding and feelings about reality through a visual language.

My first experience actually seeing his work was when I went to see him in South Boston. I went with the intention of doing a meditation class, not thinking I was visiting an artist studio. It wasn't immediately apparent that he had been creating artwork there. I turned the corner into a closet, and it was full of colorful ceramics and mushrooms. It wasn't as if he had them priced individually or for sale—it was just the beginning of an idea that he needed to create. It struck me as similar to a site-specific installation I'd seen at Dia Beacon or Robert Smith's spiral jetty. It had to be in that space at that time.

Q: How would you describe Bobby's artwork and its connection to meditation and mindfulness?

I think there's a connection between his artwork and meditation. In his later work, you're fully immersed in it—your field of vision is surrounded by what he's created, and all that matters in that moment is what you can see. From the outside, it looks totally different. You see a body laying down on a bed with a contraption over their face covered in wires. But I don't think he cared about that exterior view as much. I think what he cared about was the experience of actually being in there, like making eye contact with yourself as your field of vision gets so small.

“When I first saw Bobby’s work, I saw it as something pure—there was a purity to it that wasn’t diluted with a necessity to sell it. It existed for the sake of existing. I was early in my career and had been looking at most artwork with the view of “Can I sell this in my gallery? Who’s going to buy this?” But real authentic artwork isn’t made that way. Artwork that has persisted through history isn’t really made with dollar signs in mind in the artist’s view. It’s made through a necessity to create, through a real passion and love.”

Q: As a gallerist with broad perspectives on contemporary art, do you notice a growing interest in art that has to do with meditation and well-being, similar to what Bobby has done?

I can only speak from my perspective and my understanding of art history, which is that art is a reflection of culture, no matter what period of time you're in. What persists in the art history textbooks is the artwork that defines that generation.

I believe there is a certain absurdity in our contemporary world. And how do you respond to that? Do you make more absurd work? Or is there somehow a way to respond that slows down the pace of chaos and absurdity?

I don't know if there's a movement towards meditation, although I think there's a strong need for it in our daily lives, given how short everybody's attention span is. I believe the pendulum swings both ways—it reaches a boiling point, and then everyone wants to cool off for a while. So the need to slow down in life, or the desire to slow down, I think will always be there.

Q: How did you get involved in being a board member and being part of the Foundation?

I met Bobby through his brother, Mike, who's been a close friend of mine for a long time. When I went to Bobby's funeral, I was really moved by all these people who showed up and spoke about him and the impact he left on people's lives. In the aftermath, I felt a strong desire to carry that on somehow.

Mike told me that his family was starting a foundation about the artwork, and they weren't quite sure what it was going to look like or what was going to happen. I just said yes—I didn't need much more information than that. It's incredible to see how much we have accomplished in a short period of time, getting people to experience Bobby's work and allowing people to slow down enough to experience it.

Q: Looking ahead in five years, what do you foresee for the foundation's evolution, and how do you hope it will further Bobby's legacy?

“I see the future of the foundation as opening doors for other artists as well as opening people’s minds through the work that Bobby created. I think that comes in two forms: having more people experience Bobby’s work through museum exhibitions or other venues or groups that have the same sort of mission; and inspiring artists that have the same mindset and vision.”

Maybe not inspiring them to create differently or new work than they're already creating, but by showing them that there is a need for it in the world. It's like all ships rise on the same tide. If it's not Bobby's work that moves somebody to think differently or to pause for a second and look at themselves, maybe it's another artist's work that does that.