Adam Simon (b. 1952, Hampstead, UK)

Adam Simon is a visual artist. He studied at the New School and Hunter College before completing an MFA at Bard. Together with Michele Araujo and Mike Ballou, Simon co-directed Four Walls, an artsists’ forum and exhibition space that ran from 1984 to 1998. He also founded the Fine Arts Adoption Network, which allowed people to permanently “adopt” artworks at no cost by corresponding with artists. The project, which lasted from 2006 to 2019, involved more than 320 artists and 1800 adopters.

Simon’s work focuses on shared visual culture; in the 90s and early 2000s, he took inspiration from stock photographs. Outlining figures in the photographs using acetate stencils, Simon pushed ordinary visuals into the realm of the abstract. He later drew from the annals of art history, reconfiguring recognizable works like Koons’ bunnies and Picasso’s bulls. This same desire to explore iconography led him to his most recent work: paintings that appropriate and distort corporate branding and logos.

Simon’s work has shown at Studio 10, PS122, and White Columns, among others. He has participated in residencies at Yaddo and PS122.

Simon lives and works in New York City.

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