JAKUPSIL

Adam Umbach was born in Chicago, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. After being inspired from an early age by the modern masters collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, he received his BFA in painting from the University of Wisconsin. Beginning his painting career with minimalist canvases based on the enigmatic names of color swatches, Umbach’s creative approach has expanded to experiments with abstraction, geometric painting, and expressionism. The evolution of Umbach’s painting is markedly influenced by his surroundings, from the maritime imagery and seaside colors from his time living in East Hampton, New York and Islesboro, Maine to the graphic style of New York City’s architecture and graffiti.

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Umbach's practice operates at the intersection of personal mythology and collective nostalgia, employing meticulous technique to transform ordinary objects into vessels of emotional resonance. Benjamin noted, "Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector's passion borders on the chaos of memories"³—an insight illuminating Umbach's approach. His method—juxtaposing photorealistic rendering with gestural marks from his non-dominant hand—creates a formal dialectic mirroring the tension between structured recollection and unmediated emotion. Working in luminous color fields between abstraction and representation, Umbach constructs images functioning simultaneously as taxonomic specimens and animated presences, inviting viewers into spaces where memory becomes both archive and encounter. This transformation is evident in Another Garden Scene #9, where butterflies serve as tributes to his late mother's love of gardens, and in Duck Light (Bright Blue), where a childhood toy assumes monumental presence through isolation and chromatic intensity. Umbach crafts memory machines—systems processing lived experience through visual representation that transform private nostalgia into shared territory where viewers' own memories find resonance.

Education

2009   B.F.A., Painting, University of Wisconsin Stout

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Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023   Never Grow Up, Cavalier Ebanks Galleries, New York, NY

2022   Reboot: All Play, No Work, Carver Hill Gallery, Rockland, ME

           Whimsical Waters, Roman Fine Art, Sag Harbor

2021   Newfound American Freedom, Chase Edwards Contemporary, NY

           Halcyon Daze, Roman Fine Art, Sag Harbor, NY

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Selected Group Exhibitions

2023   Art Palm Beach Fair, Cavalier Galleries, Palm Beach, FL

            Inaugural Group Exhibition, Cavalier Galleries, New York, NY

2022   Eye-Fi, Carver Hill Gallery, Camden, ME

            Life, Death, Hereafter, NYC Culture Club, New York, NY

            C/overt Observation, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

            Winter Group Show, Cavalier Galleries, Palm Beach, FL

            Re:Emergence, Circle 46 Gallery, Hudson, NY

2021   Facts and Fictions, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

            Fall Group Show, Cavalier Galleries, Greenwich, CT

            Summer Group Show, Cavalier Galleries, Nantucket, MA

            Talismans, Monica King Projects, New York, NY

2020   Bohemian City NYC, Group Installation, New York, NY

            Bohemian City Bubblegum, Havens, Sag Harbor, NY

2019    Bohemian City Miami, Basel Group Showcas,, Miami, FL

            Subtle Impact, White Room Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY

            Members’ Show, Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY

2018   Art on the Edge, Janet Lehr Fine Arts, East Hampton, NY

            Spring Showing, Janet Lehr Fine Arts, East Hampton, NY

            Sweet Things, Janet Lehr Fine Arts, East Hampton, NY