Amy Adler

Location - 2014, printed 2024
7661 Girard Avenue
15' 2" x 26' 6 1/2"

Amy Adler’s mural, Location, speaks to the potential of art as a space for reflection, play, fantasy, and inspiration. Location is one of a series of five, life-sized playgrounds originally drawn in oil pastel on canvas. The mural image is based on a photograph Adler shot of a playground while scouting locations for a film. This particular scene was shot at night, and is, therefore, empty. Recalling the idea of a stage lying dormant, this vacant setting lies in wait, anticipating the arrival of active participants. Primarily focusing on figuration over the span of her career, this series is distinctly different than much of Adler’s prior work as it does not contain any human subjects. In realizing this series of enigmatic landscapes, Adler reviewed the previous subjects she’s portrayed, raising the question of what sort of locations she might find those same people in. The viewer is invited into an open-ended narrative as Location sets the stage for a sense of wonder, intrigue, and anticipation.

Amy Adler works across disciplines of drawing, performance, photography, and film. Born and raised in New York City, she received a BFA from Cooper Union and an MFA from UCLA in 1995 and an MFA in film production from USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2011. She is a Professor of Visual Art at University of California San Diego where she has been teaching since 2004. Reminiscent of a cinematic universe, the interplay between mediums within her practice focuses itself around the concept of the film still, realized through her layered and nuanced hand-drawn images.

Adler’s work has been widely exhibited both nationally and internationally including solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA); Aspen Art Museum; and Hammer Museum, UCLA. Her work is featured in the permanent collections of many notable institutions, including MOCA; the Desde Foundation, Athens, Greece; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD); Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Drammens Kunstmuseum, Norway; Perez Art Museum, Miami, Florida; and Hammer Museum. Her short films have been screened at international film festivals, including Frameline, Outfest, and BFI Flare. Adler is a recipient of a 2021 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. She lives and works in Los Angeles. 

Photos by Philipp Scholz Rittermann