Cey Adams, Departure: 40 Years of Art & Design Exhibition

The Leonard Pearlstein Gallery of Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, in collaboration with Mural Arts Philadelphia, will present the career-spanning work of Cey Adams, a New York-based visionary artist working at the forefront of design, culture, innovation and collaboration. A retrospective exhibition “Cey Adams, Departure: 40 Years of Art and Design” will be displayed through Saturday, October 5.

Featuring more than 60 pieces that encompass his work through photography archives, mixed media collage, paintings, textile, fashion, street art, contemporary fine art and more, the exhibition presents a visual timeline of the artistic evolution of Adams and a body of work influenced by themes of pop culture, race and gender relations, cultural and community issues.

The first solo retrospective exhibition for Adams, this collection celebrates and surveys his extensive practice and transformative role in multiple cultural art and music movements over the last four decades. The chronological work on display begins in the late 1970s, where he began to hone his art skills by painting graffiti on the streets and trains of New York City. While street art begins to leak into the city’s high-end galleries, the exhibition follows Adams to his work as founding Creative Director for Def Jam Recordings, where he gave visual life to the Hip-Hop movement and created visual identities, album covers, logos and advertising campaigns for musical giants like Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., Maroon 5, and Jay-Z. A large installation featuring more than 50 album covers conceived and designed by Adams will headline this part of his career before exploring his studio practice.

“The singular focus of my art is to be a bridge that brings people closer together,” said Adams. “This career retrospective is a reflection of how graffiti, street art, and hip-hop have unified people and, in turn, created a movement with lasting impact on popular culture.”

Unique collaborations with global brands like Levi’s, Mattel Creations, Apple, Google, The Recording Academy, YouTube, Adidas, Pabst Blue Ribbon, showcase Adams’ signature use of colorful curves, shapes, and letterforms across multiple mediums. The exhibition will spotlight Adams’ long-term and notable artistic partnership Levi’s® with the display of LOVE— a custom chain-stitch embroidered denim trucker jacket created by Cey Adams x Levi’s® Eureka Innovation Lab while paying homage to his graffiti days of hand painting designs on vintage Levi’s® apparel for his family and friends.

Also featured is Adams’ recent collaboration with Mattel Creations. A one-of-a-kind 5-foot 3-D sculpture of a reimagined Hot Wheels logo collaged with the brand’s archives from the 1960s and 1970s.  To celebrate the retrospective, Mattel Creations released a limited-edition Cey Adams x Hot Wheels custom diecast van, inspired by Adams’ iconic ‘LOVE’ murals.

“We are thrilled to partner with Drexel’s Pearlstein Gallery in showcasing Cey Adams’ dynamic body of work,” said Jane Golden, executive director of Mural Arts. “This retrospective not only highlights the evolution of Adams’ artistic journey but also underscores the powerful role of art in unifying communities and sparking cultural conversations.”

“Since its inception, Mural Arts has appreciated the many talents of the local graffiti community,” said Philip Asbury, director of Community Murals for Mural Arts Philadelphia. “Fundamental creative principles like color theory, composition, and line quality, to name a few, are all very present in graffiti. One of my goals is to highlight these transferable skills for local artists and give them concrete examples of how they can apply these skills to a range of income-generating opportunities and new ways to express themselves. Cey Adams’s work is an exciting example of applying skills learned in graffiti and applying them to a variety of inspiring creative processes.”

Community Engagement Activities 

Mural Arts facilitated several engagement activities through our Art Education program, including a Virtual Reality Tour and Airbrush Hat workshops with RJ Taylo and Dan 1, Virtual Reality Tour, and Hip Hop Graffiti Jean Jacket Workshops with Dan 1.  There were 105 student participants, with 55 from Mural Arts’ Summer Art Education programs; the remaining students were from nearby West Philadelphia Schools.

On Tuesday, October 1, 2024, from 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm, there will be a Panel Discussion with Cey Adams followed by a Meet the Artist Reception from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm. 

In conjunction with the exhibit we also welcome DMC of RUN DMC to a book signing with the Pearlstein Gallery. This event will be held between 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm on September 17th and is open to the public. Cey Adams toured with RUN DMC; both were staples in the early years of Def Jam Records.

Original Flavor: Brewerytown Roots of the Modern Graffiti Movement exhibit 

To provide further context for the Cey Adams exhibition, there will be a Philadelphia Graffiti exhibition, Original Flavor: Brewerytown’s Roots in Modern Graffiti Movement, in the lobby of the Pearlstein Gallery that will include four artists: Cornbread, Sub and Cone as curated by Philip Asbury.. Original Flavor delves into the stories of three wall writers from Brewerytown and the environment around them in the early days of graffiti in Philadelphia. Cornbread, Sub, and Cone, who started writing in their pre-teens, share anecdotes and artwork offering a glimpse into the cultural and social dynamics that fueled this revolutionary art form.  This exhibit includes documentaries on the three Brewerytown artists played on monitors