Adam Daley Wilson / Engage Projects Gallery Chicago

2025 update

adam daley wilson (1971, US) is a conceptual artist. he lives and works in his small studio in portland maine.

he is represented by engage projects, a conceptual art gallery in chicago, since 2020.

both of his solo shows to date have been artforum magazine ‘must see’ in chicago.

recently recognized as one of the top 100 artists worldwide blending postconceptual + postminimalist + activist art.

art critics have said:

“profound and ambiguous.”

“his writings are as interesting as his paintings.”

“It is rare that one encounters [work] with such depth . . . Wilson . . . brings a complexity and gravitas to his work that is too often lacking in contemporary art.”

his work arises from heightened electrical, chemical, and neural activity in his frontal lobes. it is due to bipolar 1, his mental illness. it causes unique logic, emotion, and relation perceptions about ideas not commonly connected.

it started out of the blue, when his psychiatrist adjusted his medications, at age 42.

he is self-taught. his work is informed by traditional degrees from stanford law and upenn, and by practicing law at international law firms in san francisco and washington dc.

scroll down for details.

more details

represented by engage projects gallery chicago.

the gallery places two to three pieces in established collections each year.

2 solo shows, 6 group shows, and 3 art fairs to date.

next solo show — 2025 chicago — may 16 - june 21 2025 — engage projects.

current group show — ikigai — nov 8 2024 - jan 4 2025 — engage projects.

cv + press + statement — please contact gallery.

areas of practice

oil painting

writing, language, and thought systems

legible texts

abstract texts

new cave paintings

art as theory, post-theory art

conceptual and postconceptual

text + image

video + sound

writing, language, and thought system theories

installations, performance, and happenings

plain texts placed as art and performance

2024 updates

artforum — ‘must see’ chicago — first two solo shows 2021 and 2023

mousse magazine (milan) — selected best shows aligned with expo chicago 2023

most recent show — This Is Text Based Art — artist’s descriptions .pdf

most recent published article — conceptual theory art + post-theory art — ssrn.com

more information below

about the gallery

engage projects (fka aspect ratio) is a commercial gallery in Chicago with a nat’l + internat’l reputation in multidisciplinary conceptual art (painting, photography, video, installation, sculpture).

the gallery currently represents roughly twenty artists from a dozen countries + continents.

gallery artists have exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Tate Modern, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The New Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, and La Panera Art Center.

about the studio

i live and work in my studio. it’s in portland maine. i use my hallway, 27 feet long, 3 feet wide.

scale

paintings are ~ 4 to 10 ft w and ~ 5 to 8 ft h. works on paper are ~ 18 x 24 in.

artists i’ve shown with

since representation in 2020 i’ve appeared in shows with Alec Soth, Alberto Aguilar, Nick Cave, Bob Faust, Alejandro Figueredo Diaz-Perera, Chris Larson, David Leggett, Derrick Woods-Morrow, Edra Soto, Xie Hongdong, Hasan Elahi, Jovan C. Speller, Jean Alexander Frater, Sharon Louden, Morgan, and Nick Albertson, among others.

backstory

self taught. no art training or education. word-idea-images started tumbling out a decade ago, at 42, after a meds change through my psychiatrist. for about 20 years I’ve treated a mild form of bipolar disorder, fka manic depression; my mind tends to be exuberant, buoyant, in a slight natural high. apparently, in these natural highs, parts of my brain can connect things in unique ways — except when I write highly logical and formal appellate briefs for courts. I’ve practiced in the areas of antitrust, intellectual property, constitutional, and appellate law for almost 30 years, including at leading international law firms based in DC and LA, with traditional degrees from Penn and Stanford Law.

selected 2023-2024 current research, writing, theory

• art theory — conceptual theory art + post-theory art

• art theory — post-theory art in relation to postconceptualism and postminimalism

• draft research — global histories + global theories of text art — .pdf or webpage

contact

engage projects gallery chicago — jennifer armetta, director — jennifer@engage-projects.com

adam.daley.wilson@gmail.com — 207-699-9957

more info from the gallery:

Adam Daley Wilson (b. 1971) is a self-taught conceptual artist represented by ENGAGE Projects Gallery in Chicago. He lives and works in Portland Maine.

His work manifests in oil painting, installations, video, and performance. He is also an emerging art theorist.

Daley Wilson’s practice blends cognitive and intuitive processes where he uses language in both legible texts and abstract personal writing systems to experiment with meaning-making and viewer interpretation.

His works are informed by his traditional education (Stanford Law, University of Pennsylvania) and his bipolar 1: Neurologically, when in hypomanias, his naturally high levels of dopamine and serotonin cause increased electrical connectivity in the frontal and temporal lobes, causing increased abilities to see relations, connections, and associations between things normally seen as far apart.

Daley Wilson’s works are in collections in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Miami, and Chicago, and both solo shows so far were Artforum “Must See” shows in Chicago (2021, 2023).

His work in art theory and art philosophy includes a top-10 paper in the Fine Arts, Aesthetics, and Philosophy Journals of SSRN (2024), and he has served on the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in Visual Art, an international PhD program for artists. He continues to brief issues in Art Law, Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, and the Visual Artists’ Rights Act.

On the basis of his shows, the Berlin-based advisory Artfacts lists him in the top 5% of artists associated with post-conceptualism, conceptual painting, text-based art, and activist art.

As a self-taught artist indebted to mentors since his unexpected start in 2014, after a meds change by his psychiatrist, he informally mentors emerging artists in the US and several countries.

Selected Press and Publications

Second solo show THIS IS TEXT BASED ART featured in Mousse Magazine (Italy) in its “curated roundup of the best contemporary art exhibitions and events held by galleries, museums, and institutions in town during [EXPO Chicago 2023],” 4/10/23

Second solo show THIS IS TEXT BASED ART on Artforum’s must see list, 2023

First solo show ALREADY GONE on Artforum’s must see list, 2021

First solo show ALREADY GONE reviewed in New Art Examiner, 3/21

NBC New Center Maine features, 2/16/21 and 2/23/21

Conceptual Theory Art as a Method for Interdisciplinary Research, Hypothesis, and Critical Analysis Both Within and Beyond Traditional Western Social Sciences (August 01, 2024). Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4913371

Selected Post-Theory Performance Pieces and Happenings 

If You Let Yourself Think About It (Theory Art Piece 1). Artist’s physical act of placing a VARA-qualifying text-based visual artwork, about a social justice legal theory of first impression in the United States, within the Supreme Court of a State, causing the justices to be both audience and actors in a happening about journalism as art and legal theory as art, 2023-2024.

Theory As Art, Journalism As Art, Law As Art (Theory Art Pieces 2, 3, 4). Ongoing placements of VARA-qualifying text artworks within judicial branches and courts, each causing happenings within courts as to the art of journalism, the art of law, and theory as art, 2023-2026.

Look At What We Have Created II. Live creation of personal writing system painting and happening with roughly 20 viewer-participants, second solo show, during EXPO Chicago, 2023.

Do You Own Conceptual Ownership? 4-day performance with video, installation, tangible art ownership experiment, and conceptual social justice ownership experiment. Guest artist project by invitation. The Other Art Fair New York, Nov. 8-11, 2018.

Some Feelings And Thoughts I’ll Have Any Second. 4-day performance with installation and conceptual video. The Other Art Fair New York, Nov. 18-22, 2017.

Look At What We Have Created. 12.25-hour performance walk through New York City, overnight, playing 6 tracks of audio from artist’s backpack, creating layers of words from academics personally known by the artist discussing issues from mass incarceration to LGBTQ+ rights, until the overlapping audio layers rendered the spoken words meaningless, Nov. 22-23, 2017.

CV

Updated December 2024

Adam Daley Wilson

he/him. Lives and works in Portland Maine. Represented by ENGAGE Projects since 2020.

Solo Exhibitions

2025

Announced: This Is Post-Theory Art. (Chicago, Engage Projects Gallery, May 16 - June 28, 2025).

2023                         

This Is Text Based Art.  (Chicago, Engage Projects Gallery, April 14 – May 26 2023).  Artforum ‘Must See’ in Chicago.

2021                          

Already Gone.  (Chicago, Aspect/Ratio Projects (now Engage Projects), February 6 – March 13, 2021). Artforum ‘Must See.’

Group Exhibitions

2024

Ikigai. (Chicago, Engage Projects Gallery, November 8, 2024 - January 4, 2025)

2022                          

Portland Debuts. (Portland Maine, Cove Street Arts, September 29 – November 19, 2022)

2022                          

Arts and Conversations. (West Palm Beach, Arts & Conversations Gallery, February 9 – February 28, 2022)

2021                          

VAA 37th Juried Exhibition (Houston, Visual Arts Alliance, August 25 – September 25, 2021)

2020                          

Fever Dream. (Chicago, Aspect/Ratio Projects, December 5, 2020 – January 16 2021)

Juried Art Fairs

2018                          

The Other Art Fair New York (as invited guest artist) (New York, November 8 – 11, 2018)

2017                          

The Other Art Fair London

The Other Art Fair New York

Artist Talks

2024

Four-person joint program (Stanford Law School)

2023                          

Two-artist joint program (Chicago)

2022                          

Two-artist joint program (West Palm Beach)

2021                          

Eight-artist joint program (Chicago)

Reviews, Press, Notable

2024                          

First published paper on art theory and philosophy of art (Social Science Research Network, August 1, 2024).

2024                          

Artfacts (Berlin) raking of top 5% and top 10% (US / Global) of over 1m gallery represented artists.

2024                          

Artfacts ranking of top 1% for artists associated with post-conceptualism, postminimalism, text-based art, and activist art.

2023                          

Second solo show named ‘must see’ in Chicago by Artforum.

2023                          

Second solo show named one of the ‘best contemporary art exhibitions’ aligned with EXPO Chicago 2023.

2021                          

First solo show selected for critical review, New Art Examiner, Chicago.

2021                          

First solo show named ‘must see’ in Chicago by Artforum.

2021                          

NBC New Center Maine press coverage of first solo show in relation to mental illness stigma advocacy.

2021                          

Two works selected, honorable mentions, jurist Dr. Harry Cooper, Head of Modern Art, National Gallery, Washington, DC.

2019                          

Anonymous nomination, Spannocchia Artist Residency (Sienna Italy)

2018                          

Invited Guest Artist, The Other Art Fair (New York)

2017                          

You Only Live Once In American Violence, Saatchi Art Spring 2017 Catalog, New Media ink on paper.

2016                          

Los Angeles Times appearance (artwork with collector), March 13, 2016.

Collections

Private and corporate collections including in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Paris, Miami.

Education

University of Pennsylvania, B.A. Stanford Law School, J.D.

Public and Government Service                             

Informal mentoring, young artists, US and international, 2018-present. Board of Trustees, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, 2019-2020. Board, Yellow Tulip Project, mental illness stigma advocacy, 2020-2023. State court mediator, 2009-2013. Disability rights legal advocacy, 2014-2017. Pro bono legal counseling for artists and creative non-profits regarding intellectual property rights and artist moral rights, 2018-present. Pro bono constitutional law advocacy for non-profits, including First Amendment rights, 2000-2004. Judicial Law Clerk, US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia, 2004-2006.

— Updated December 2024.