“We Came to Party and Plan” by Derrick Adams is a series of 40 paintings that depict people at a party. These are mainly portraits in which the artist experiments with colors while establishing similar compositions and textures. 36 of 40 paintings are face portraits, and 4 pictures are full-body-sized. Paintings We Came to Party and Plan 1 and 2 are of particular interest (“Derrick Adams: Sanctuary,” 2022). These are two full-body-sized images that are positioned as a diptych. A man and a women are present in the pictures, both wearing birthday caps and surrounded by colorful festive tinsel. In his portraits, Derrick Adams aims to attract attention to social disharmony in American communities and at the same time emphasize the beauty of African American people.
Derrick Adams is an American visual and performance artist whose work is focused on themes of Black Culture in America. He is also an art curator and worked as a fine art professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Derrick Adams presented several exhibitions that attracted interest among art connoisseurs, collaborating with the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in Newark, NJ, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Museum of Arts and Design, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver.
The first painting of the diptych demonstrates a woman who came to a party. The author used acrylic paint, fabric, and paper collage on paper to create this work. This is a 72 in. x 30 in. painting that shows bright colors and paper-like texture. The elements of art applied to create the masterpiece complement each other in meeting the initial central purpose. The author used bright, flashy spring-type colors for the first picture with maximum values and saturation. Because of this, the first impression contributes to the emergence of some embarrassment. In addition, the author uses plenty of zigzag, sharp, and clear lines, which adds dynamics and creates a slightly disturbing mood. The overall impression is significantly softened by the forms: the lower part of the background of the painting is occupied by a paper collage depicting a quilted blanket. The upper part of the background of the picture is occupied by white space and colorful flags, so thanks to fewer details, the viewer can more calmly focus on the central object. At the same time, the bright white background increases the feeling of excessive contrast.
Despite these details, the overall emotional impression of the painting is more related to a sense of anxiety, which is probably facilitated by the presence of three compositional centers. Using warmer and richer colors, the author focuses the viewer’s attention on the woman’s breasts, eyes, and hips, adding a sexual subtext that disharmoniously contrasts with the decor for a party similar to the decor for a children’s birthday party. Even though the woman in the picture came to the party to have fun, the viewer feels her extremely tense state.
In terms of the composition, the author uses the rule of thirds, placing the figure of a woman vertically in the left part of the picture space. However, due to the presence of three centers, bright saturated colors, and sharp lines, the viewer’s attention constantly moves between these centers. The author also used the rule of odds, choosing three objects for the image – a woman, her festive cardboard hat, and a festive paper pipe. The rule of space and simplification technique was used as well.
The second image is a 72-in. x 30-in. painting that displays a young man using bright colors and a paper-like texture. The two paintings have some differences, although they are very much alike. The second painting depicts a man, and he occupies the central part of the space. The picture has three centers of composition – on the genitals and hips, mouth, and hands of the man, which gives an aggressive semantic message disharmonious to the children’s holiday. Unlike the first picture, the compositional centers are highlighted with lighter tones, which, however, do not reduce the overall tense atmosphere. The background is white space, paper flags, and colored balloons. The complete analogy of the depicted objects and backgrounds creates symmetry, which is one of the forbidden techniques of composition since symmetry is an unnatural state and rarely occurs in the non-man-made world.
When interpreting the paintings, it is worth noting the originality of the paper collage technique. The quilts depicted in this technique are powerful symbols of African American culture. Such blankets were made by women from the old clothes of family members, and they served as a symbol of the continuity of family ties. It is interesting that in the portrait of a woman, the blanket has patterns of different colors than in the portrait of a man. One can imagine that each of the depicted quilts carries a unique story and reminds of people who are important to the man and woman portrayed in the pictures.
Given the author’s interests in culture and art, it can be assumed that the paintings have several important messages. First, the author draws the audience’s attention to social relations, which is indicated in the title. The feeling of tension and disharmony evoked by the paintings refers to complicated social relations prevailing in the modern world. Second, traditional blankets that serve as a background do not soften this impression and do not evoke thoughts of support from ancestors. On the contrary, through the introduction of this symbol and the emphasis on the youth and sexuality of the portrayed people, the author hints that social problems may negatively affect the children’s world. Thirdly, portraits use an interesting artistic technique of working with colors. It refers to the art of fashion where designers experiment with makeup and clothes. This technique is original and probably important to the evolving African-American fashion and culture. Today, a growing number of designers and make-up artists are successfully experimenting with colors suitable for darker skin tones.
I would also like to share the subjective impressions and emotions caused by the diptych. Emotionally, the picture is very rich and dynamic, it captures attention easily. Despite the intentional disharmony of the composition, the painting inspires energetic movement forward through colors and lines. Anxiety from the incompatibility of childishness and aggressive sexuality is compensated by textures in the paper collage technique. The figures in the paintings look somewhat two-dimensional, which significantly reduces the feeling of real threat. Perhaps the author hints that the picture is about the world of emotions, not the real threats, given the generally safe and civilized social relations that prevail in most communities.
Thus, a visual analysis of two Derrick Adams’ images from the “We Came to Party and Plan” series of portraits was presented. The discussed portraits are bright, quickly attract the viewer’s attention and irritate the perception with an excess of bright colors and dynamic lines. The author seems to be trying to portray adults who came to the children’s holiday and do not fit into the format of this holiday. However, in general, the paintings make a positive impression thanks to the textures and masterful technique of working with tones. Perhaps through these techniques, the author hints that youth and childhood are a time when mistakes can be easily corrected if attention is paid to love and not to violence.
Work Cited
“Derrick Adams: Sanctuary, Solo Exhibition.” Derrick Adams, 2019.