I stopped by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth, on College Street, to see the art on display by Robert Adams.

The exhibit includes didactic panels that really opened up Rob’s art to me. It made clear the conscious efforts to blend the formalism of Josef Albers and the playfulness of Rosenquist (or at least of pop art like Rosenquist’s) with a public commitment to the environment and a personal exploration of identity.

I have followed Rob for just more than a year now. His most recent works include a map of Lake Superior assembled from Battleship game boards. In other words, the paintings in this exhibit, which include works with pressed tin cans and gravel and saw blades and all sorts of other found objects, attached to the canvas, exist in a continuity with works that are constructed altogether from found objects. This narrative was nice to see.

This exhibit really showed me new dimensions to his work, dimensions you can experience in his appearance this week on the PlayList.

And by the way: Add this church to your list of spaces to see contemporary art. This was exciting.