Denise Jones Adler

Born in: 1953

Lives in: New York, NY

Media: Mixed media, Collage

Describe your work in 3 words: Fantasy, Expressionism, Surrealism

See More Work:, IG: @deniseadler123,,

Same Battles, Same Victims

"My collages are made by cobbling together work from disparate snippets of media, advertisements, newspapers and photographs, type and found objects, the detritus of my yesterdays, lost and found and given a new place. This work is the outcome of my journey through life."

What themes does your work involve?
Myths, fairy tales, legends and fantasies are key themes.
Describe your creative process.
I try to tell a visual story, using trash and everyday items as symbols for a updated and relatable mythology.
What influences your work? What inspires you? Why do you make art?
In the same way that mythology gave us hints at our shared humanity, I want to give voice to those symbols and continue to tell the stories, visually. As we continue to try and make sense of existence, the glorious and the horrid, the wonder and the injustice. The need to express, interpret and understand is what inspires my work.
What is good art? What makes a piece of art great?
When someone can blend honesty, passion, ability and a tenacious willingness to dig deeper, and a little bit of self-awareness with an idea, great art can happen.
What is the role of the artist today?
Making art fulfills a need in me, it’s hard work, it feels like living, it has all the same components, the flow - passion, sadness, love, joy, grief. Art is slow, it needs you to slow down, interacting means attempting to understand and relate to another human’s thoughts and ideas. Art is a connection to the past and a guide to the future. it is the best we as humans can do and it’s as fleeting and temporary as we are, yet it has a spirit or energy that, I believe, is the reason for everything.

This page was published by Circle Foundation for the Arts © CFA Press ∙ Images are courtesy of the artist