Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Derrick Adams’s paintings range from individual portraits to intricately configured, jubilant group scenes. His Floater works, produced between 2016 and 2019, exemplify the latter. Representing Black people at leisure on vibrant pool floats, Adams centers the Black body at rest, transforming commonplace social gatherings into a radical conversation on who is permitted to experience leisure. Rendered in his characteristic, geometric style, this vast scene claims space for community, connection, and everyday pleasures as enjoyed by Black communities.
See this work at the High Museum of Art through January 19, 2025, in “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys.”
Visit the High Museum: high.org
Derrick Adams’s paintings range from individual portraits to intricately configured, jubilant group scenes. His Floater works, produced between 2016 and 2019, exemplify the latter. Representing Black people at leisure on vibrant pool floats, Adams centers the Black body at rest, transforming commonplace social gatherings into a radical conversation on who is permitted to experience leisure. Rendered in his characteristic, geometric style, this vast scene claims space for community, connection, and everyday pleasures as enjoyed by Black communities.
See this work at the High Museum of Art through January 19, 2025, in “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys.”
Visit the High Museum: high.org
