About The Show
Enduring Pantheon : Continuing
As a kid, I was obsessed with the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greeks. This vibrant cast of characters, each with their supernatural abilities and excessive flaws was such an interesting narrative vehicle. Each character represented not just some physical phenomenon, but carried with it personality traits, history, and complexity. A Philosophy of Visual Art course I took in college with Dr. Susan Josephson illuminated this idea for me and it became the skeleton in which my ideas formed. The concept of fictional characters carrying a complex message ran through the history of art, from religions and straight to advertising and modern communication. I saw it too in the cartoons I grew up watching. I wanted to create a menagerie of my own characters, ones that were simple, unassuming, and enjoyable, but most importantly, carried meaning, each in their individual way. The exhibition, Enduring Pantheon started as a personal reflection. I had some major changes in my life that were causing me to evaluate the things I have achieved and the things I have made. This introspection lead to an actual review of my own art history and its development over my lifetime. It is a very odd thing to create an exhibition of artwork looking back at over twenty years of making work professionally. In some ways I feel like I just left college and that I still have so much more to learn. Then, upon opening digital folders packed full of hundreds of works I have created and shows I have had since graduating and it causes me to pause for a moment and reflect positively on just how much I have made and done. I am often my own harshest critic and looking back at old works can be hard. I have always looked to the future for my best work, constantly evolving my technique and trying to find better ways of using these goofy characters I make to tell the stories I want people to experience. I tried to use this opportunity as a way to showcase how my work has changed and how it has stayed true to itself and I hope that the work remains enjoyable and thought provoking for those who see it.
Consider this a yearbook, twenty years in the making. This isn’t a collection of every character I have made, as that would be a monumental task. It is a collection of 45 of the most frequent characters I have worked with since starting as a professional artist. I view each character as having their own unique characteristics, intrinsic to traits imbued on them. Many of these
characters come directly from my personal experiences, reflections of actual people I know. Some of them are derived from pop-culture or history. But each of them is used as a cog in a narrative clockwork, meant to tell their part of the story when conjuncted with other characters.
The full original series was shown at Sarah Gormley Gallery in November 2024 as a set of 48 paintings.
Artist Bio
Adam Brouillette
For the last 20 years, Adam has worked as a professional artist. His artistic style features a series of cartoon characters he has developed over his time in his studio practice. These characters are narrative in nature and rely heavily on cultural influences to tell their story. His paintings use flat, graphic lines and colors that are simultaneously familiar and unique to his style. His works have been featured widely in galleries, museums, publications and exhibitions.
Adam has also expanded the use of his abilities to the commercial art and design world, where he is the owner of littleINDUSTRIES, a small company that does art consulting and strategy, production and installation. . He has worked with dozens of small business clients since the company started in 2006.
Adam also works as a community organizer, putting together events and physical spaces designed to support the art community in which he is involved. He continues to make artwork out of his studio at Blockfort, a community he has worked to build.
Adam Brouillette grew up in a variety of midwestern environments that influenced him greatly. Majority of his time was spent in a handful of suburban areas. He watch cartoons, ate cereal, and played video games Legos as a kid. He spent summers in more natural settings, exposed to the beauty of nature and the time to reflect. Eventually he relocated to the city to build an art career. He currently lives and works in Columbus. with his two cats Ernie and Scout.
CONTACT INFO
adam.brouillette@gmail.com
@adambrouillette
www.adambrouillette.com
