This week, we caught up with artist Adam Ball. Discover how he gathers insights when working on large-scale commissions, his dream exhibition space and how he’s used his own DNA for creative inspiration.
Adam, your work often explores the intersection of nature, science, and abstraction. How has your experience working within architectural spaces influenced your creative routine and the way you approach making art?
My work is rooted in nature and the world around us but I often rely on others for my source material, especially in architectural projects. I have collaborated with scientists to photograph subject matter for me in a particular way. A few years ago, I sent a blood sample to a lab in the US who photographed my chromosomes under high magnification, and from this created a pattern that I incorporated into my work, as a type of self-portraiture. I’m currently working on a project that creates the portrait of a place and how a pattern can be rooted in a location, unique to that space.
Materiality plays a key role in your work. How do you choose materials, and how do they shape the narrative or experience of a piece?
Making art is often about problem solving and using materials in a new way, especially when working on a larger scale. Different materials can change the way a piece looks, and therefore evolving it into something new. Evolution is one of the most important processes in art.
You’ve worked with many institutions and brands on large-scale commissions – what’s been the most rewarding challenge when collaborating with architects or spatial designers?
Much of my life is spent alone in a studio so working with a larger team can be invigorating, and the collaboration achieves things that wouldn’t be possible individually. Initially I struggled with the speed at which things happen, artists can be impatient, so much more so than architects. I worked on one project that took 8 years but it’s part of the process.
Since many of your installations are situated in architectural or public settings, how do you approach creating work that interacts with its environment?
When I started working on my first public art installation, (a 16-metre light box on the outside of Royal Papworth Hospital,) I was given a great piece of advice: to engage with as many people as possible who will work there. I collaborated with surgeons and staff from various departments to research the source material, and ensure it was influenced by them, and reflected their experiences. I think all public art should be rooted in its environment.
If you could embed your work into any architectural site, historic or contemporary, where would it be and why?
I visited Chatsworth House recently to see the Frank Bowling paintings that are installed in the main entrance hall. They looked great and completely changed the feel of the space – bold, brave and beautiful. So, I’d say something like that.
