Why do i Freelance?
From am law 100 associate to gallery-represented conceptual artist.
When I’m not writing appeals and trial-level briefs for repeat customer law firms, I’m a contemporary conceptual artist — I left the full-time practice of law upon becoming a commercially successful artist in 2017.
A prominent New York / Los Angeles collector discovered me and I was offered representation by a Chicago gallery with an international roster of artists in 2020. The gallery, Engage Projects, places 2 to 3 of my pieces with established collections each year.
My first two solo shows (2021, 2023) were both selected ‘Must See’ by Artforum, the 2023 solo show was also a curatorial section of Mousse.
As of mid-2023, a London / Berlin art advisory firm ranks me in the top 10% of living artists worldwide and in the United States, and in the top 5% globally for artists associated with Post-minimalism, Post-conceptualism, Conceptual Painting, Appropriation Art, and Text-Based Art.
My pieces are in private and corporate collections in places such as New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Chicago, Miami, and elsewhere.
I’m represented by Engage Projects Gallery in Chicago, which has a growing international reputation in contemporary conceptual art (painting, video, photography, installations, and sculpture) with a roster of twenty artists from eight countries on several continents, several of whom have been acquired by the leading museums in the United States and Europe and have been featured in The New York Times and similar.
engage-projects.com (gallery)
adamwilsonart.com (portfolio)
Above — Spring 2025 — selection announcement —- public art in Chicago in conjunction with the EXPO Chicago International Art Fair and the City of Chicago Cultural Affairs Department … Below — (1) Installation view, April 2025, Chicago … (2) recent work (artist’s text over artist’s photograph) … (3) studio view (artist’s hallway studio, Portland Maine) …
Above — (1) Spring 2025 — selection announcement —- public art in Chicago in conjunction with the EXPO Chicago International Art Fair and the City of Chicago Cultural Affairs Department … (2) Installation view, April 2025, Chicago … (3) recent work (artist’s text over artist’s photograph) … (4) studio view (artist’s hallway studio, Portland Maine) …
Partial listing of current pieces via ENGAGE Projects Gallery Chicago, late 2022.
Installation view, courtesy collector, 2021.
Gallery view, group show, Palm Beach, 2022.
Should It Make You Think Or Should It Just Look Pretty On Your Wall, 2017, via ENGAGE Projects.
Gallery view, group show, Palm Beach, 2022.
Courtesy Engage Projects Gallery — Artist talk with artist Kelly Matthews in conjunction with solo show selected as an Artforum ‘Must See’ in Chicago, May 2023.
Courtesy Engage Projects Gallery — The artist talk covered art, law, and mental illness stigma during Mental Health Awareness Month.
February 2025 — Current Art Theory Research and Practice
Artist-Placed Public Document Art as a type of Post-Theory Art
What is Post-Theory Art? A definition of Post-Theory Art is: an emerging form of activist art where theory-making itself is the art, realized through text-based art, conceptual frameworks, and public performance art or happenings that aim to influence public interest discourse.
What is Artist-Placed Public Document Art? Artist-Placed Public Document Art may be defined as: a form of conceptual art and text-based art where an artist files their theory in writing into a public legal system, resulting in and creating activist art and performance art that directly engages with public institutions about issues of public importance.
More information about the research and art practice is here and via the gallery — engage-projects.com.