Calum-Louis Adams

This weeks final feature is from multi-disciplinary visual artist Callum-Louis Adams! Their work stimulating, tangible and conceptual… Keep reading to find out more!

Q1: What is your Name, Age, and Where are you based?

A:My name is Calum-Louis Adams, I am 21 years old and I am based in Brighton.

Q2:How did you first get into your creative practice / work?

A:I took up visual art quite late in comparison to other creatives. Although I had been writing poetry for many years, I only started working on my current visual practice when I was 18 during my foundation year. My practice started with performance work, using my body as a tool for drawing, painting and sculpting.
The aspect of performance was key for me, no matter what route I have taken since I first began
creating. Performance showed to me that material can be anything, and that ‘anything being material’ can mark canvas in the most incredible and strange ways.

Q3:Are there any main or overarching themes you explore in your work?

A:Being a multi-disciplinary artist, I often explore relationships between the self, the body and the
material in whatever work I am doing, whether that be painting, performance or conceptual work. I
have struggled with my gender for a long time, and discovering a use for my body within the creation of work has allowed me to repair a broken relationship I have had with it and the self through art mediums. This body theme results in my practice often incorperating strange marking methods such as burial, chewing and screaming.

Q4:Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

A:Now this is a tough one, because anything can happen in such a short time. That being said, I am hoping that I will be training as a teacher or lecturer as well as being a working visual artist. I love to learn and am passionate about education, so It would be a shame for it all to stop at my experience without passing it onto others.

Q5:How has the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected your Work?

A:Surprisingly, once the lockdown was announced, I found working on my practice to be a great
distraction for any anxieties I may have felt during such a strange time. I started spending more time on developing my art style, and on caring for self, thus my work.

Q6:Highlight one of your biggest inspirations!

A:In terms of the art world, I absolutely love Piero Manzoni for pushing boundaries in where artwork derives its worth, often weighing on the name and status of the artist as opposed to the actual work. Outside of specific artist inspiration, Found objects that can be used as extensions of my body, ‘tools’ for painting spark creativity for me.

Q7:If you could share one message with the world, what would it be?

A:I think too often, artists can fall into the trope of taking art too seriously, stressing on trying to present as professional as possible. Although this is very important, I would say its also equally as important to experiment and have fun! Drop the paintbrush for your fingers and feet, throw away the pencil and kick the paper through mud and dirt to create marks or grab a hammer and chisel to carve holes into the paper… There is beauty in such naive and childlike exploration.