A Brief Interview With Surrealist Artist Adam Sturch

Adam Joseph Sturch is a New Mexican artist who was born in Austin, Texas in 1981, although he has called many places home; Albuquerque, Moriarty, Cimmaron, Taos, and Angel Fire in New Mexico alone. He currently resides in the beautiful and unusual town of Truth or Consequences, my own hometown and current place of residence.

I first met Adam online through a mutual friend, although we quickly developed our own friendship once he arrived in Truth or Consequences. I was immediately captivated upon viewing Adam’s work, which usually comes in the form of a drawing or an oil painting. His work is fantastically surreal and finely detailed, existing somewhere between M.C Escher and Max Ernst. Viewing the work of Adam Sturch is certainly capable of making one feel deeply puzzled or deeply disturbed.

Adam is compelled to make art, lately he has been producing drawing after drawing, posting multiple new pieces to his Facebook page each week. His constant flow of work is inspiring, although I am constantly left wondering what he could accomplish with the right budget. Sketchbooks and drawing pencils are numerous and cheap, sadly canvases, oil paints, and sculpting materials all seem like a luxury to an artist with a studio full of unsold paintings. Regardless of his lack of art sales, he continues to produce deeply emotional and captivating artwork, much to the delight of myself and his many online followers.

Chantal: How long have you been creating art, did something inspire you to start?

Adam: Actually, I’ve been making art longer than I can remember. I still have some early paintings from a very young age, and some photos of me wearing a [painting] palette on my head at about 3 or 4 years old. I have always loved color and imagining… I don’t really have a conscious recollection of my first impulse to create art, it’s just something I’ve always done and more so as I grow older, need to do.

Chantal: Where did you draw your first artistic inspiration?

Adam: I’d have to say comic books, in particular Sam Kieth. I love the Maxx series. Later, Edvard Munch had a huge impact on me. Also the work of Beksinski, Arshile Gorky, Alex Grey, Bosch… and many more over the years. I also greatly admire the work of Clark Richert, Irene McCray and David Mesplay.

Chantal: Did school influence your art in any way, perhaps any art teachers or art classes?

Adam: The arts in public schools were deteriorating even when I was attending. I remember an art teacher in preschool mocking me in front of the class for drawing a lollipop tree. I thought it needed branches and wasn’t in the mood for leaves, haha. I attended several different schools growing up, from southeast Texas to northern New Mexico. Once in high school I had an awesome art teacher, Kathleen Ritinski. She was very enthusiastic about art in a town where the graduating class of 30 had very little else to do other than drink. I frequently ditched other classes, I would hide in the back of the art room along with the kiln and the paints and work. Later, after leaving high school and getting a GED, I attended an art college in Denver. I wasn’t able to graduate due to financial constraints, however the people I encountered and the teachers there made a lasting impression.

Chantal: What mediums do you use?

Adam: I use any mediums I can get my hands on. Over the years, it is typically whatever is readily available. I have worked in clay, metal, oil acrylic, watercolor, graphite, charcoal, taxidermy (primitive with polyurethane and embalming fluid), fire drawing, crayon, ballpoint pen, felt tip.. There is little I haven’t tried. The best thing about art now, in this time, is that anything can be done. Genres are dead, or blurring at least.

Chantal: How does this innate urge to create seem to direct your life in order ways?

Adam: I work whatever day jobs provide enough income to keep shelter and allow me to create. If I cannot succeed with making art for a living, I will die trying. I’ve had more day jobs than I can count over the past 20 years, telemarketing, house painting, dish washing, anything that will keep the rent paid. I don’t want another…

Chantal: I think that’s really beautiful, it shows me how directly connected you are to your art. I’ve become a pretty big fan of your artwork, I have been following your progress for a few years. My personal theory is that your art is some type of story... Perhaps a retelling of your life in some way. Is there any veracity to my thinking?

Adam: Very much so, more conscientiously over the years. Specifically after I became aware of Munch and Picasso, they were the first major artists I encountered who communicated great depth of emotion through their representation of personal experience, that really resonated with me. The notion of art as a diary is something I love and I think it applies to my art. Even the most detached, non-objective or political works are still a reference to your perception in that place and time.

Chantal: I think you're very right, no matter how unbiased we try to be we can't help but imbue our own essence into any work we do, artistic or otherwise. There is a lot to be said about the concept of perception in your work. Your art is complex and surreal, it seems to often include a lot of symbolism (personal and beyond), eliciting deep emotion from those who see it. You seem to embrace every aspect of yourself in your artwork in a raw, unapologetic way. When I see it, I often feel connected to my most vulnerable emotions.. the type of thing that we are often trying to escape from in our daily lives. There is a huge range in your work, looking at one of your drawings or paintings one can feel anything from a warm embrace to a cold, alienating stare, just depending on the piece... likely because we as humans are similarly complex, constantly moving and changing states. I always wonder, do you ever feel vulnerable displaying your artwork or talking about the meaning behind your work?

Adam: I don’t typically elaborate on the meaning of my work past the title, which I typically consider carefully. I don’t mind. I think that exposing and illuminating the aspects of ourselves and our surroundings that are vulnerable or unpleasant is very necessary for growth as an individual, as well as a society. Ultimately the function of art, poetry, music, any form of expression is to communicate. Art is a language that opens with thought and changes with experience.

Chantal: Regarding your own artwork, do you have a favorite piece? Alternately, what is your most unusual?

Adam: I've amounted a fairly large amount of work, picking a favorite is difficult. I would have to say a painting called “Alkahest” is still one of my favorites. As far as strange works.. “Shit Head, Portrait of an American Artist” is really more more sculpture than painting, it is 75 pounds of horror in portrait form. I've lugged it around and added to it for more than 10 years. It is mostly paint palette scrapings and house paint skins, mashed together with interesting city alley refuse over a decade of walking to bus stops. The teeth are made from hypodermic needles that were found in a playground.

Chantal: That's amazingly creative. It sounds to me like shit head is a testament to your dedication as an artist within all aspects of your life.. Or perhaps your means of artistic expression when it is otherwise stifled by a need to pause your creative world in order to address the rest of your basic existence! I have noticed that alongside being incredibly emotionally proving and aesthetically pleasing, a lot of your artwork is surreal and mind-bending. What inspires the beautiful yet warped reality within your artwork?

Adam: I find that reality is warped, as Jiddu Krishnamurti once stated “It is no measure of health to be well adapted to a profoundly sick society.” A visual metaphor is an attempt to communicate thoughts and feelings that refuse precise definition, especially in the western world where we are bombarded by contradiction. The smile masking malice, the friendly handshake of the salesman. We are raised in a climate of misinformation, disinformation and lies. A language, visual or otherwise, attempting to communicate such a reality, at least for me, must also be warped.

Adam Sturch is currently showing at the Rio Bravo Fine Art Gallery located in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

An online gallery of Adam’s work can be found on Facebook, Adam Sturch Art.

More info: Facebook