Adam Lester

Adam Lester’s work comes from a need to make sense of cultural ‘noise’.  Travels in Greece and Asia, and an interlude in the hippy north of New South Wales, have laid the groundwork for this artist’s penetrating perception of the contemporary milieu. 

Steering a course between the political and the aesthetic, Lester appropriates from the plethora of
sensorium generated by the metropolis.  Dualities have always fascinated him, and his titles often hint at contra interpretations.  Pictorially, words function both as form and meaning, creating a kind of frisson between an image’s layers.  Vibrant colours and iconic signs often jostle uneasily together to produce highly kinetic surfaces. Employing a stylistic vocabulary inherited from ready-made and pop art forms, the artist juxtaposes graphic art modes and gestural marks.  Lester brings his face-off between high art and everyday culture to edgy resolution.

Solo Exhibitions
2006                       
Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
2005                       
Arts Factory Gallery, Brisbane
2003                       
Arts Factory Gallery, Brisbane                       

 Group Exhibitions
2008
Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide  
2007                       
Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide
2005                       
Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane
Charles Ginn Gallery, Brisbane
2004                       
Arts Factory Gallery, Brisbane
Victoria Street Warehouse, Brisbane
2003                       
Arts Factory Gallery, Brisbane
2002                       
National Graduate Show, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
2001                       
Southern Cross University Graduate Show, Lismore
The Tub Gallery, Byron Bay
2000                       
Roxy Gallery, Kyogle
1997                       
Agias Procopihos, Naxos, Greece
Kali Techni, Bar Baigani, Naxos Greece

Awards

2005                       
Queensland Art Workers Alliance Art Prize – Finalist, Brisbane
Churchie Art Prize, Finalist – Church of England Grammar School, Brisbane
2004                       
Churchie Art Prize, Finalist – Church of England Grammar School, Brisbane
2002                       
Bentley Art Prize, First Prize, Bentley
Southern Cross Art Prize, Highly Commended – Southern Cross University, Lismore
2001    
Reconciliation Art Prize, Highly Commended – Southern Cross University, Lismore