Derrick Adams' Triumphant Retrospective

Derrick Adams retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston has been a huge success.

 

 

His colorful, geometric works, focus on joy, leisure and play in the Black community. The works themselves elicit joy and wonder.

 

Adams was born in Baltimore in 1970. He received his BFA from the  Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and his MFA from Columbia University. He lives and works in Brooklyn and returns to Baltimore, where he has established a retreat for artists, for rest and relaxation.

 

Adams’ works are part of the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Birmingham Museum of Art, and many fine venues.

 

Derrick Adams: View Master will be on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art through September 7, 2026.

 

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Sam Friedman’s works are meditative abstractions that move  the eye across and around the surface of the canvas or paper. He uses long-haired brushes that accentuate the fluidity of each work.

 

“I’m trying to create something that has a meditative quality,” Friedman said, “or a quality of taking you away. One of those things that just kind of puts out a positive, enjoyable experience as if an element of the earth. There’s definitely a meditative quality to doing the same types of tasks over and over that present a slow refinement.”

 

Friedman was born in Oneonta, New York in 1984. He studied illustration and typography at the Pratt Art Institute. After graduating, Friedman spent 5 years as manager of Brian Donnelly’s (aka KAWS) studio, an experience that he says gave him a good work ethic and where he honed his skills as an artist. KAWS has continued to be a friend and mentor, and. has even curated one of Friedman’s exhibits at the Library Street Collective in Detroit.

 

Friedman has had solo exhibitions in the United States, Europe and Asia. His works have been featured in Architectural Digest, Artsy, Hypebeast, High Snobiety, Juxtapoz and other publications and are in the permanent collection of the Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland, the Palms Casino Resort, the Shinola Hotel, HRY Collection and other venues.

 

Sam Friedman lives and works in Pleasant Valley, New York.

 

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References:
Robin Givhan. The Artist Who Gives Me Joy. The New York Times. April 26, 2026.
Lee Ann Norman. Derrick Adams: View Master. The Brooklyn Rail. July/August 2026.

 

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Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Derrick Adams and Sam Friedman available at VFA.

August 5, 2026