Robert Adams: The Plains, from Memory

In the spring of 2020, as he watched his country tested by the COVID-19 pandemic, Robert Adams (born 1937) discovered in his garage a small plank of wood that contained within its grains and textures a whole landscape of its own. This led to the creation, during a difficult time, of an unexpected series of works that drew upon Adams’ long-buried fondness for certain aesthetic qualities of stillness and austerity. Over the next few months, using scrap wood from an old bookcase, hand tools that had belonged to his father and his grandfather, and block printing ink, Adams affirmed his own basis for hope beyond the pandemic in the beautiful 23 paintings that are gathered in this elegant volume.