Relationships
Adam Shield
Adam Shield (b. Newcastle Upon Tyne) lives and works in London. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools (2014-17) and BA Fine Art at Newcastle University (2007-11).
Selected recent exhibitions include BLAST BEAT, with artist Thomas Whittle as Long Distance Press (LDP), Priestman Gallery, Sunderland, 2021; Drawing Biennale, Drawing Room, London, 2021; Dark Silo, Thames Side Studios Gallery, London, 2020; A Very Long Wait, Newchild Gallery, Antwerp, 2020; Greetings, LDP, Mauve Gallery, Vienna, 2019; Expo Dream Leech, Drawing Room, London, 2019; IMAGE DRUM, LDP, Royal Academy of Art, London, 2019; Terraforms, Kristian Day Gallery, London, 2018; Chumming, The Pipe Factory, Glasgow International, 2018; Hands Roots, Hawkins, London 2018; Drop Shot, LDP, Fetes College, Edinburgh, 2017; Bearing Liability, Strange Cargo Gallery, Folkestone, 2017; RA Schools Degree Show, Burlington House, London, 2017; Premiums: Interim Projects, Royal Academy of Art, London, 2016; Let’s Get Inside Everything, Milma, London, 2016; and RIFF, Baltic 39, Newcastle Upon Tyne, 2014.
Shield has co-curated exhibitions including Greetings, Mauve Gallery, Vienna, 2019; Drop Shot, Monomatic, Edinburgh, 2018; Chumming, The Pipe Factory, Glasgow for Glasgow International 2018 and IMAGE DRUM at The Royal Academy of Art, London, 2019.
Shield’s exhibition Amp Envelope opened at The Showroom on Tuesday 19 July and continues until 17 September 2022. Amp Envelope is Shield’s first solo exhibition in London.
The exhibition incorporates a new body of work and an embedded cycle of print workshops running throughout the show, building on the radical histories of print studios and workshops in The Showroom neighbourhood; and the third iteration of The Showroom Mural Commission (2022-2023).
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Since 2013 Shield has been co-running Long Distance Press (LDP) with artist Thomas Whittle. Working between Glasgow, Newcastle, London and Edinburgh, LDP started as a postal art project that quickly turned into collaborative works, publications and exhibitions. Through these Shield and Whittle continue to explore research, drawing and works on paper that often live at the unseen edges of an artists’ practice. LDP works closely with artists to produce new artworks, artist books and editions employing a range of processes, paper stocks and binding methods to produce printed ephemera that is tactile, intentionally lo-fi and inky to touch. They have also shaped and delivered collaborative workshops for students at The University of Sunderland, The Bartlett School of Architecture – UCL, Fettes College, Edinburgh and Goldsmiths, University of London.
In 2023-24 LDP will develop a new public artwork with The Showroom as part of the programme of public art commissions at Paddington Square, in partnership with LACUNA. The programme sees the creation of a new series of collaborative murals at Tanner Lane, situated between Paddington Square and St Mary’s Hospital. These commissioned public works will be in-situ for one year at a time, providing a rotational site for temporary public artworks, each responding to the overarching theme of the politics of care. Artist Kathrin Böhm launches the series in 2022-23, followed by Long Distance Press (Adam Shield and Thomas Whittle) in 2023-24 and Rhea Dillon in 2024-25. Created through collaborative processes, the cycle of public commissions creates a new context for The Showroom’s programme in Paddington, allowing a wide audience of visitors, workers and local residents to enjoy and engage with contemporary art practice.