Adam Helms is a contemporary multidisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses printmaking, drawing, sculpture, installation, and assemblage, and is characterised by works that are heavily inspired by his archival research into marginalised groups and the colonisation of North America. Helms completed his Master of Fine Arts at the Yale University School of Art in 2004.
Helms combines historical photographs (often portraits) with contemporary western iconography to comment on the concept of differing societal and political identities. By re-presenting historical imagery, Helms brings to attention the contrasts between representation of historical and contemporary events, and ideals. He explores how representation of historical events, in relation to marginalised groups in particular, has framed and influenced our understanding of diverse cultures.
Recent solo exhibitions of Helms’ work have included Weight of Culture at Artpace, San Antonio (2014); Pathos Formula at Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels (2013); Blind Lion at Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam (2011); and Under Western Eyes at Kathryn Brennan Gallery (2009). Helms’ work can be found in many public collections including the Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; and the Yale University Art Gallery, Connecticut. In 2006 Helms was awarded the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Visual Art Grant Award, and has been the recipient of several grants and artist residencies.
Adam Helms lives and works in New York.

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