Derrick Adams: View Master offers a comprehensive look at 20 years of the artist’s multidisciplinary practice celebrating contemporary Black life and culture
(Boston, MA—November 13, 2025) In April 2026, the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) opens Derrick Adams: View Master, the first survey of New York-based multidisciplinary artist Derrick Adams (b. 1970, Baltimore). The survey exhibition presents more than 100 works spanning over 20 years of the artist’s practice, including never-before-seen works from Adams’s personal archive, immersive exhibition design created by the artist for the ICA, and new works debuting at the ICA. Adams’s paintings, sculptures, collages, performances, videos, and public projects celebrate the richness and complexity of everyday Black American life, and over the past two decades, have transformed these moments into a distinct iconography. On view from April 16 to September 7, 2026, Derrick Adams: View Master is organized by Dexter Wimberly, Independent Curator, with Tessa Bachi Haas, Assistant Curator, ICA/Boston.
“Whether through intimate portraits or large-scale public projects, Adams offers compelling narratives of affirmation and celebration. His work delights in the everyday moments that define the pursuit of happiness in America. Taken together, the works in this exhibition invite audiences to experience joy and feel uplifted through his engaging and visionary practice,” said Nora Burnett Abrams, Ellen Matilda Poss Director at the ICA.
Derrick Adams’s work centers Black subjects depicted in vibrant scenes of rest, recreation, and self-care. Play is also a central theme in Adams’s practice. Braving the Path, 2023, depicts a young Black boy riding a Funtime Unicorn, referencing the interactive sculptures that Adams has created and installed across various urban landscapes for passers-by to engage with. His vibrant explorations of contemporary life convey a palpable sense of power, referencing many pop culture moments. In another work, Only Happy Thoughts, 2024, Adams portrays a Black woman adorned with bright blue eye shadow and Tootsie Roll candies alongside African masks and elements drawn from Black art traditions. This painting is one of several vibrant and multifaceted portraits that convey his serio-comedic storytelling, establishing situations starring both real and imagined characters through humorous juxtapositions. In one of Adams’s interactive, sculptural works, Cool Down Bench (RBG), 2023, the artist recalls childhood memories of neighborhood ice cream trucks with a large-scale, functional sculpture modeled after the popular red, white, and blue ice pops. However, in this instance, the bench features the colors of the Pan-African flag—red, black, and green—representative of Black liberation.
“Adams’s use of bold colors, dynamic compositions, and layered textures creates a powerful visual impact that underscores the depth of the Black experience,” said Wimberly and Haas. “His work invites visitors to see the beauty and strength in the everyday lives of Black people with a sense of humor and whimsy.”
In Derrick Adams: View Master, Adams invites viewers to engage with a world where cultural and creative freedom is essential. The exhibition’s sub-title, View Master, is an ode to the toy that the Black inventor Charles Harrison redesigned in 1958 and reflects Adams’s distinct ability to capture the Black gaze. For the ICA’s presentation, Adams will debut a new work titled View Master, 2025, a large 6 x 8-foot painting featuring a view master—a stereo picture-viewing system that creates the illusion of a 3D world. Adams’s worldbuilding extends to the galleries, where wallpapers designed by the artist will create an immersive visual experience for visitors. Derrick Adams: View Master is a testament to Adams’s commitment to expanding the conversation around what it means to live and thrive in today’s world.
The exhibition follows Adams’s first-ever monograph, featuring 150 of the artist’s most significant works to date. Published by Phaidon and Monacelli, the book also includes essays by Hallie Ringle, Salamishah Tillet, and Dexter Wimberly, and an interview by Sandra Jackson-Dumont.
Media Contact: Theresa Romualdez, press@icaboston.org
Digital Press Kit: https://bit.ly/DerrickAdams
Credits
Derrick Adams: View Master is organized by Dexter Wimberly, Guest Curator, with Tessa Bachi Haas, Assistant Curator, ICA/Boston.
Support for Derrick Adams: View Master is provided by Gagosian and the Brizius Family Fund for Artists.
With warmest thanks, we gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the ICA’s Avant Guardian Society in making this exhibition possible.
