The exhibition examines visionary artist, cultural pioneer, and innovative designer Cey Adams’ of more than four decades creating the visual identities of some of Hip-Hop’s foundational acts, commercial collaborations with global brands, and his extensive contemporary fine art practice. Read more on CVAD News and Views. 

Exhibition: Aug. 22–Dec. 15, 2023
CVAD Gallery, UNT Art Building, Room 160
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: Noon–5 p.m.
Thursday: Noon–8 p.m.

Free and open to the public.

Adams has been at the forefront of multiple cultural art movements for over four decades. For only the second time ever, the highlights of his journey will be on display for all to see in Denton, Texas. A graffiti and design legend, Adams (American, 1962) honed his art skills by painting graffiti on the streets and trains of New York City in the late 1970s before moving downtown, where the street art was leaking into the city's high-end galleries. Like his pop art contemporaries of the time, Adams understood the power of images, media, and advertising. This position left him uniquely suited to give visual life to a new movement called Hip-Hop. 

“The pop culture recognizability of Cey Adams’ work is nostalgic and profound about historical and current hip hop culture and graffiti street art. Within his work — past and present — he consistently raises critical questions about consumerism, race, gender, class, history, and our values as a complex society, all of which are as relevant today as forty years ago.,” said Dean Karen Hutzel, Ph.D., professor of Art Education at the UNT College of Visual Arts and Design. 

This exhibition was organized by the Boston University Art Galleries, Boston, Mass.