With “Departure,” Artist Cey Adams’ Influence Comes Full Circle
While artist and graphic designer Cey Adams was waiting at his Fort Lauderdale hotel to install his retrospective, “CEY ADAMS, DEPARTURE: 40 Years of Art and Design,” at new Dania Beach museum Mad Arts, he watched the award-winning 2023 movie Barbie. On a call with Purehoney, he marveled about the trajectory of his career — from making graffiti art on the streets of New York as a teenager to collaborating with major corporations, like Mattel, which makes the beloved Barbie doll.
Cey collaborated with Mattel Creations on the Hot Wheels sculpture and also on the Cey Adams x Hot Wheels 70s LOVE die-cast van — which will appear in “Departure.” The work allowed him to reconnect with his childhood. He says with wonder, “I never thought I’d get an opportunity to play like that.”
Adams is a trained artist who attended New York’s School of Visual Arts in the 1980s. He came up with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring who, despite dying at ages 27 and 31 respectively, became enduring pop art icons. “The journey I’ve been on was unpaved,” Adams says. “There’s only a small handful of us from the ‘80s who were able to carve out careers for ourselves. Even then, there was no north star to say, ‘oh, I want to be just like that person,’ because our friends died when they were young, and they never were able to realize the kind of dreams we had.”
Cey Adams x Mattel Creations: HOT WHEELS, 2022
Mixed media on fiberglass sculpture – 24 x 60 x 16 inches – Courtesy of the Artist
When Adams met famed producers Rick Rubin and record executive Russell Simmons in 1984, they were just establishing Def Jam Recordings. After this pivotal meeting, he turned to graphic design, learning traditional cut and paste methods, and soon became the founding creative director of Def Jam. In that role, Adams shaped the way hip-hop looked to consumers, designing over 100 album covers and working with major artists like Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Run DMC, Notorious BIG, Jay-Z, and Mary J. Blige on a variety of imagery. “Everything I do is borne out of relationships that I developed starting back when I was a graffiti artist,” he says.
The Drawing Board 1986 – 1999 | Album Covers – Courtesy of the Artist
“I’ve been making work long enough to really see street art come full circle,” he says. “You think about graffiti as illegal street art, and now street art is globally legitimate, that’s the biggest bookend of all.” To illustrate that point, Adams even designed the logo for the Museum of Graffiti.
LOVE (Wildflower), 2022 | Mixed media collage on panel – 45 x 70 x 3 inches – Courtesy of the Artist
“Departure” covers not only the evolution and influence of an artist, but of 40 years of American history as it relates to music, marketing, race, gender, and so much more. “The show covers everything,” Adams assures.
CEY ADAMS, DEPARTURE: 40 Years of Art and Design, Mad Arts, 481 S Federal Hwy, Dania Beach, FL 33004. April 06 – May 26, 2024. Free. yeswearemadarts.com. ~ Liz Tracy
