“This is more like a mixtape, so enjoy the music,” Atlanta-based artist Brill Adium told visitors Friday evening as they moved through the solo exhibition, “Finding My Rhythm”, a collection of mixed-media works that skip between themes like tracks on a playlist.
On Friday, July 25, One Contemporary Gallery opened its first solo exhibition, showcasing the work of Adium.
“I want people to question the art,” Adium told the attending crowd. “I make art for people to have a dialogue with their neighbor, because now it goes to a solution. I want to form a solution. In this world, we have a lot of problems that need to be addressed, and curiosity starts with these pieces.”
Gallery owner Faron Manuel said he first encountered Adium’s work about a year and a half ago and was drawn to the artist’s socially aware approach and unique techniques incorporating woodwork and assemblage.
“I thought he had something really interesting to say. Manuel said that he was ” socially aware, ” he said, a lot of emotion in his painting, and a lot of interesting techniques like woodwork, his unique painting style, and working with assemblage,” Manuel said. “I just thought he had a really good story to tell.”
The exhibition title emerged organically from conversations between Manuel and the artist. “He said, ‘You know, I don’t really think of this as a cohesive body of work. The last couple of years, I really just been finding my rhythm,'” Manuel recalled. “And it was just in conversation. And sometimes when I hear things like that, it just expresses the concept the right way, and I was like, ‘No, let’s use that.'”
Adium, 34, who moved to Atlanta four years ago from Orlando, described the exhibition as resembling a mixtape rather than a cohesive body of work. Originally from Andalusia, Alabama, he moved to Orlando in fifth grade before eventually settling in Atlanta around 2021.
“You know, when you think of a mixtape, it’s not really a fleshed-out idea, it’s just ideas,” Adium explained. “Some people will say, ‘Damn, I love these songs.’ And then from that, maybe three songs make the album. So that’s what this is.”
Adium has been creating since childhood, finding solace in drawing during frequent trips to his room as a young boy. “My mom used to send me to my room a lot, so that’s where I found that time,” he said. “I also understood being in my room was therapeutic when I was drawing.”
Adium emphasized his identity as a full creative rather than just a painter. All the wooden frames in the show were built by the artist himself, showcasing his woodworking abilities alongside his painting skills. “I don’t want to just be looked at as a painter. I want to be looked at somebody that can execute ideas,” he said.
Adium highlighted one piece in particular, a work about the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four young girls. “That’s the one that I really want people to hone in on,” Adium said. “That’s a real moment that touched me. When I finished that piece, they spoke with me. Those girls in that painting spoke to me. So for me, at that moment, it made me realize why we do art.”
One Contemporary Gallery, located at 395 Edgewood Ave SE, opened more than six months ago in January and has focused on presenting diverse artists through both group and solo exhibitions. Manuel said the Edgewood community has embraced the gallery, with Liberty Baptist Church providing free parking for events.
“We felt really welcomed by the Edgewood community,” Manuel said. “They really love the idea of an art gallery being here. So for the majority of our events, we present them with free parking downtown in Atlanta, which is basically unheard of, and a lot of people from the community come out. Some have become patrons and buy art and support the work that we do.”
Adium encouraged other creatives to pursue their ideas. “If you’re creative, or if you got an idea, if you got a dream, you know, just push through with it,” he said. “Execute. That’s all I want people to do.”
