Derrick Adams received his BFA in art and design education from Pratt Institute in 1996 and his MFA from Columbia University in 2003. In addition to holding numerous teaching positions, Adams was the curatorial director at Rush Arts Gallery and Resource Center, New York, from 2001 to 2009.
His solo exhibitions include LIVE and IN COLOR, Tilton Gallery, New York (2014); Communicating with Shadows, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2012); Deconstruction Worker, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York (2012); Go Stand Next to the Mountain, The Kitchen, New York (2010); Anew, Performa 05, Participant Inc, New York (2005); I’m Smoke; You’re Mirror, Participant Inc, New York (2005); Me and My Imaginary Friends, Triple Candie, New York (2004); and The Big Getaway, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York (2003).
His group exhibitions include Retreat, Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago (2014); Reloading the Canon: African Traditions in Contemporary Art, The James E. Lewis Museum of Art, Baltimore (2013); The Bearden Project, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2011); Precarity and the Butter Tower, Bryan Miller Gallery, Houston (2010); NeoIntegrity Comics Edition, Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, New York (2010); Harlem Postcards, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2009); Dream of Today, Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles (2007); The Pulse of New Brooklyn, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art, Brooklyn (2006); Greater New York, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY (2005); Notorious Impropriety, Sampson Projects, LLC, Boston (2004); Open House: Working in Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum (2004); 24/7: Wilno—Nueva York (Visa Para), Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania (2003); Veni Vidi Video, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2003); Hotel/Motel, Triple Candie, New York (2002); and Derrick Adams and Dread Scott, Corridor Gallery, Brooklyn (2000).
