In “Eden,” visual arts senior Adam Locher responds to his upbringing in a conservative Texas environment through a multimedia retelling of the Garden of Eden creation story. An opening reception is on Tuesday, May 2nd from 5:00-6:30 p.m.
May 1 – 5, 2017
Gallery hours: Weekdays, 10:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Room 301 at 185 Nassau Street
Free and open to public.
In “Eden,” Locher presents a “modern-day parable” based on his own life story. Viewers journey consecutively through three sections of the exhibition: “Middle America,” “Eden,” and “Dissociation.” Using a range of media including sculpture, spray paint, graphic design and photography, Locher examines his own creation and identity with works featuring themes of isolation, aspiration, dissociation, and love. “Genesis,” an eight-part poster series using graphic design and photography, features Locher positioned in the eight cardinal and ordinal directions, offering differing visual points of view into the many ways he is formed: genetically, chemically, historically, and emotionally. A seven part photo series features Locher and his boyfriend as rainbow creation figures reminiscent of Adam and Eve. In his sculptures, he presents unconventional self-portraits using mundane objects that have been decorated or altered. The sculptural works are made from items associated with childhood crafts, such as pipe cleaners, string, and Play-Doh.
Locher is majoring in visual arts through a collaborative program between the Department of Art and Archaeology and the Lewis Center’s Program in Visual Arts. He came to Princeton considering a major in the social sciences. After taking a year off to help care for his grandfather who was dying, he returned to Princeton with the feeling that the social sciences might not be the career path for him. He wanted to attain skills in making things and “to learn more practical things than what I was finding was possible for me in the social sciences.” His initial focus in the arts was in film, but he began to explore graphic design and other media in his junior year. His junior independent work, which featured diagrams of emotions, has parallels in this year’s “Eden,” as nearly all pieces function as diagrams, puzzles, or sequential series. This year, as a senior, Locher began to focus more on sculptural diagrams and now considers three-dimensional work his primary medium.
View or download event materials: Poster | Press release
