Derrick Adams

“I want for people to see the work and feel empowered and normal,” Derrick Adams told Cultured on the eve of his fall 2017 show “Repose,” at the UTA Artistic Space in Los Angeles. The moment was bookended between two large scale summer exhibitions—“Patrick Kelly: The Journey” at the Studio Museum in Harlem and “Future People” at Stony Island Arts Bank—and "Figures in the Urban Landscape" at Tilton Gallery later that year as well as a group show at Palazzo Pisani in Venice somewhere in between. Five years later, ​the American visual artist ​​is just as busy as ​ever​. Currently preparing for his upcoming show in Hong Kong, "Sweet Spot,"​ Adams made the time to create Cultured​'s​ next commemorative art cover for the magazine's 10-year anniversary, shown here. Entitled Hug Me Around My Neck, the painting continues ​his signature consideration of the Black body through color and geometric form.​ “Since its inception, I’ve appreciated how Cultured has used its platform to highlight the diversity of who’s who in cultural and creative spaces,” shares the artist. ​