Derrick Adams

The highly anticipated first monograph on one of the most celebrated American contemporary artists

Through portraits, social scenes, photographs, sculptures, and immersive installations, Derrick Adams has developed an artistic practice that jocundly visualizes modern Black American life. 

Equally informed by popular culture as he is by the history of modern art, Adams’s work brings the everyday experiences of Black Americans to the forefront, capturing fashionable moments of joy, resilience, and celebration. His artworks are filled with color, energy, and complexity, whether they depict intimate, everyday moments or grand, sweeping statements.

Adams’s first-ever monograph includes 150 of the most significant works from his thirty-year career, along with four newly commissioned texts from cultural luminaries. Filled with beautifully reproduced images and presented in a cloth case with a painting tipped onto the front cover, this stunning book establishes Derrick Adams as one of the most important figurative artists working today.

Author(s): Derrick Adams, Hallie Ringle, Salamishah Tillet, Dexter Wimberly, Sandra Jackson-Dumont. 

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Hardcover, Phaidon, 2025
248 p, 9.84 × 11.41 in.