Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam O’Day.
Adam, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I touch on my story and how it affects my current series, opening May 4th:
BOS>NYC
New Fieldworks in Oil by Adam O’Day
Reception: Friday, May 4th, 2018, 5-9 pm
Kevin Day Studio / Gallery SoWa
460 Harrison Avenue, Unit B-17, Boston, MA 02118
As I travel from Boston to Jersey City, Downtown Manhattan, Midtown, Upper West Side, Long Island City, and Brooklyn, I find myself transforming into a raw version of myself. You take yourself out of your comfort zone, and you start to be influenced by different elements, in turn affecting your creative output. I’m away from my wife and daughter for the first time in a while, and it’s the last trip I’ll take before our 2nd daughter is born. I’m staying with a dear friend in Manhattan and he’s letting me use his art studio too. It’s mid-September and it’s really hot, getting into the high 90s every day. I’m going to try to explain why this trip was so important and why this body of work is special. It’s a collection of paintings from Boston to New York City, telling the story of my late summer trip, 2017.
When I graduated college in 2005, I hated art and I hated that I went to art school. I was working at Shaw’s and Great Scott Bar when I got a job at 48hourprint.com. When I look back at my sketchbooks from that time, I find a few pages where I lay out my plan to create an art movement called “Don’t Give a Fuck Art Movement.” I would just pour my materials onto found objects and trashy canvases. I was in a low place in my life, living in an attic of a house, just barely getting by. The artwork I made was really fueled by rage and frustration. There were hard scratchy marks on the paintings and I would just walk right on top of a canvas with no regard for it. Sometimes I would pour beer and spit on them too. I really had no plan to be an artist in life. There was a turning point when I saw beauty in this out of the box “technique.” I applied this messy rage painting technique to a cityscape composition. As I watched the paint run down the canvas, I felt something real happen. I felt that I had found something that said exactly what I wanted to say with paint and collage. There was a section in my DGAF manifesto that said “The first idea is always the best.” And then it just said “If you don’t like it, paint it black.”
For a few years I used my manifesto as a guide to make wild artwork with messy paint drips and I didn’t hate art anymore. I tolerated it. People started to ask me to contribute to art shows. I’d show anywhere, because the manifesto was against snobs. And us DGAF artists help each other out. We get each other into art shows without taking the credit, without claiming “curator.” I started to see people move away from Boston because they couldn’t find a place in the art world for themselves here. But I stayed, doing over 100 art shows from 2007-2017 in the Boston area. I’ve heard feedback from friends and enemies alike, stating “You’re saturating Boston. You need to take a break from showing in Boston every now and then.” Perhaps they were right. But guess what? DGAF.
That brings me back to present day, where I’m painting in Long Island City with the homie, Sean Flood. He’s one of Boston’s greatest artists and an unknowing member of the DGAF movement. I’ve seen him punch holes in his paintings and smash bottles against them when a piece isn’t going his way. And I love it. I love knowing that those are knuckle marks on his canvases. So we painted, biked around NYC, drank cold beer, took photos, and just laughed a lot. It brought me back to my early days of painting, when I would just pummel the canvas with paint haphazardly. When the first idea was king.
This series is the culmination of all these years of developing a style, started by hating art and turning into what it is today. It’s something that I love deep inside my soul. I embrace it.
Has it been a smooth road?
The struggles within the art world are the art world. Sometimes you can’t make ends meet doing exactly what you want to do, so you adapt to the market.
I was a naval engineer for a few years before I went out on my own as a full time artist. I worked hard to hone my talents and get my work seen by people even though I’ve never had permanent representation.
And then there’s feeling like you’re a joke and a poser. People ask artists all the time “So do you actually make money at that?” So you convince yourself into not caring and doing it anyway. You grow a thicker skin. You start to like the bad criticism as well as the good.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Adam O’Day – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I’m Adam O’Day Fine Art, and I paint oils, mixed media, collage, large scale murals, author of kids’ books, design and illustration. In recent years, I’ve focused on oil painting and murals. But I do a fair amount of design work for bands, beer companies (Aeronaut), jewelry sellers (Exclusive Jewels), and a variety of others.
I’m proud to announce my 5th year as a full time artist and 2019 will mark my 20th year as a professional artist. I was the winner of Boston’s portrait of a city contest in 2015, where Mayor Walsh gives framed prints to visiting dignitaries to Boston City Hall. I’ve done over 100 art shows since 2007 in Boston, NYC, Atlanta, Palm Springs, Ptown, among others. The most notable murals I’ve completed are at the TD Garden and at the Verb Hotel Fenway.
The thing that sets me apart is nothing really. I’m not that great of an artist. But I practice a ton and try to get better all the time. I’ve collaborated with dozens of other artists. I’ve done dozens of charity events too. I just really love it and I’ve become very passionate about making art for everyone, not just myself.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love Boston and I’ve been here since 2001. There are great things about our town. It’s a tough town to succeed in the art world. But there are benefits to that point. Everyone tends to help each other. And everyone seems to be working very hard to make it happen. There’s a sense of desperation that drives the creativity to another level. When I traveled to find the right art school, I noticed that Boston had my favorite art hanging in the halls of the schools I visited here. Everything was expressive, exciting and fresh here. That was one thing that drove me to live here. I was truly inspired by the artists here.
There are things about Boston that I don’t like. The lack of public art is a bummer. But it seems to be turning around and getting better. I see people leave Boston because they can’t seem to find an art niche for themselves. We all feel that it’s too expensive for artists. But there are ways to deal with all that.
Contact Info:
- Address: info@adamjoday.com
- Website: adamjoday.com
- Phone: @adam-oday
- Email: https://squareup.com/market/adam-oday-fine-art
Image Credit:
All artwork by Adam O’Day
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