adam daley wilson next solo show 2025 engage projects chicago
this is post-theory art
ENGAGE PROJECTS GALLERY CHICAGO — FEBRUARY 28 - APRIL 12, 2025
“It’s like honey bees … you go flower to flower … little bits, different things … and you make honey … you relate things no one might to see …” — Adam Daley Wilson, Paragraphs On Post-Theory Art (2024).
If Conceptual Art Is About An Idea, Post-Theory Art Is How It All Relates.
“In conceptual art, the [singular] idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work” — LeWitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art, 1967).
“In theory art, how many things might relate is the most important aspect” — Wilson, What is Theory Art, 2024.
If Post-Conceptual Art Makes Art Forms Fluid, Post-Theory Art Makes Thought And Theories Fluid.
“The shift to post-conceptual art [is] a move . . . where the boundaries between art forms become fluid.” — Krauss, October Journal, 2000.
“The shift to post-theory art is a move . . . where the boundaries of thought-systems become fluid” — Wilson, What is Post-Theory Art, 2024.
If Neo-Conceptual Art Questions Representation of Things, Post-Theory Art Questions Representations Of Thinking.
"Neo-conceptual art questions the very nature of representation and challenges the viewer to see beyond the surface of things” — Foster, The Return of the Real: The Avant-Garde at the End of the Century, 1996.
“Post-theory art questions the nature of connections and challenges receivers to interpret beyond the surface of thinking” — Wilson, What is Post-Theory Art, 2024.
If Whatever An Artist Does Is Art, Whatever An Artist Thinks Is Also Art.
"If I was an artist and I was in the studio, then whatever I was doing in the studio must be art” — Nauman, 1966.
“If what an artist does can be art, then what an artist thinks can be art, no matter where or how expressed” — Wilson, 2024.
If Theory Art connects and relates, Post-Theory Art adds doubt—how well does a theory hold up?
Essays on post-theory art —
→ Most recent published paper: Conceptual Theory Art as a Method for Interdisciplinary Research, Hypothesis, and Critical Analysis, available via SSRN (Social Science Research Network), September 6, 2024, https://ssrn.com/abstract=4913371.
→ An Analysis of Theory Art and Post-Theory Art: Artists, Art Theorists, and Art Critics on Relationships and Connections Communicated Through Theories Across Artistic Disciplines, August 17, 2024, via Medium and Vocal.
→ A Short Art History Analysis of Theory Art’s Lineage, Including From Some Western Thought and Philosophic Thought Systems, Including the Scientific Method, July 28, 2024 via Medium and Vocal.
→ Post Theory Art as Conceptual Art Methods For Relational Hypotheses and Critical Analyses Both Within and Beyond Traditional Western Thought Systems, September 7, 2024 via Medium and Vocal.
→ The Art of Journalism and the Art of Theory: Theory Art, Post-Theory Art, Journalism Art, And Integrations Across Disciplines As Art Practice and Aesthetic, August 8, 2024 via Medium and Vocal.
→ Post-Contemporary Art: Comparisons To, and Distinctions From, Post-Theory Art and Theory Art, August 2, 2024 via Medium and Vocal.
→ What is Post-Theory Art, How Does it Relate to Theory Art, and is it Different from Other Post-Movements In Some Meaningful Way?, July 29, 2024, via Medium and Vocal.
→ Theory Art in the Context of Conceptual Art, Minimalism, and Postmodernism in Visual Art, Music, Literature, and Architecture, July 25, 2024 via Medium and Vocal.
→ This is Theory Art — a Brief Introduction in Relation to Conceptual, Post-conceptual, Post-mininimalist, Postmodern, and Text-Based Art, July 25, 2024 via Medium and Vocal.
Theory Art and Post-Theory Art —
In The Words of Prominent Artists Themselves
Brâncuși, Constantin. (Early 20th Century, Romania). “The true artist does not theorize about art, but instead creates relationships through their work.”
Calle, Sophie. (Late 20th Century, France). “The relationships between objects and people can often reveal more than the objects or people themselves.”
Chagall, Marc. (Mid 20th Century, Belarus/France). “Theories in art are often reflections of the artist’s own mind rather than the work itself, which is born from the heart.”
Eliasson, Olafur. (21st Century, Denmark). “In art, the theory is not just an intellectual exercise but a deep connection to the world around us.”
Rauschenberg, Robert. (Late 20th Century, USA). “Theories are tools; art is an act of discovery.”
Rodin, Auguste. (Late 19th Century, France). “I invent nothing, I rediscover. Seeing connections where others have not.”
Panel and art talk, including about post-theory art, Stanford Law School, Stanford / Palo Alto California, October 2024.
About Adam Daley Wilson
Adam Daley Wilson (b. 1971) is a self-taught conceptual artist represented by ENGAGE Projects Gallery in Chicago. He lives and works in Portland Maine.
His work manifests in oil painting, installations, video, and performance. He is also an emerging art theorist.
Daley Wilson’s practice blends cognitive and intuitive processes where he uses language in both legible texts and abstract personal writing systems to experiment with meaning-making and viewer interpretation.
His works are informed by his traditional education (Stanford Law, University of Pennsylvania) and his bipolar 1 —
Neurologically, when in hypomanias, his naturally high levels of dopamine and serotonin cause increased electrical connectivity in the frontal and temporal lobes, causing increased abilities to see relations, connections, and associations between things normally seen as far apart.
Daley Wilson’s works are in collections in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Miami, and Chicago, and both solo shows so far were Artforum “Must See” shows in Chicago (2021, 2023).
His work in art theory and art philosophy includes a top-10 paper in the Fine Arts, Aesthetics, and Philosophy Journals of SSRN (2024), and he has served on the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in Visual Art, an international PhD program for artists.
As both a lawyer and as an artist he continues to brief issues is courts about Art Law, Constitutional Law, the First Amendment, and the Visual Artists’ Rights Act.
On the basis of his shows, the Berlin-based advisory Artfacts lists him in the top 5% of artists associated with post-conceptualism, conceptual painting, text-based art, and activist art.
As a self-taught artist indebted to mentors since his unexpected start in 2014, after a meds change by his psychiatrist, he informally mentors emerging artists in the US and several countries.
Categories of Theory Art and Post-Theory Pieces at ENGAGE Projects Gallery Chicago
Oil Text Paintings
Abstract Personal Writing System Paintings
Oil Text Paintings On Photography
Installations and Performance
Selected Press and Publications
Second solo show THIS IS TEXT BASED ART featured in Mousse Magazine (Italy) in its “curated roundup of the best contemporary art exhibitions and events held by galleries, museums, and institutions in town during [EXPO Chicago 2023],” 4/10/23
Second solo show THIS IS TEXT BASED ART on Artforum’s must see list, 2023
First solo show ALREADY GONE on Artforum’s must see list, 2021
First solo show ALREADY GONE reviewed in New Art Examiner, 3/21
NBC New Center Maine features, 2/16/21 and 2/23/21
Conceptual Theory Art as a Method for Interdisciplinary Research, Hypothesis, and Critical Analysis Both Within and Beyond Traditional Western Social Sciences (August 01, 2024). Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4913371
Selected Post-Theory Performance Pieces and Happenings
If You Let Yourself Think About It (Theory Art Piece 1). Artist’s physical act of placing a VARA-qualifying text-based visual artwork, about a social justice legal theory of first impression in the United States, within the Supreme Court of a State, causing the justices to be both audience and actors in a happening about journalism as art and legal theory as art, 2023-2024.
Theory As Art, Journalism As Art, Law As Art (Theory Art Pieces 2, 3, 4). Ongoing placements of VARA-qualifying text artworks within judicial branches and courts, each causing happenings within courts as to the art of journalism, the art of law, and theory as art, 2023-2026.
Look At What We Have Created II. Live creation of personal writing system painting and happening with roughly 20 viewer-participants, second solo show, during EXPO Chicago, 2023.
Do You Own Conceptual Ownership? 4-day performance with video, installation, tangible art ownership experiment, and conceptual social justice ownership experiment. Guest artist project by invitation. The Other Art Fair New York, Nov. 8-11, 2018.
Some Feelings And Thoughts I’ll Have Any Second. 4-day performance with installation and conceptual video. The Other Art Fair New York, Nov. 18-22, 2017.
Look At What We Have Created. 12.25-hour performance walk through New York City, overnight, playing 6 tracks of audio from artist’s backpack, creating layers of words from academics personally known by the artist discussing issues from mass incarceration to LGBTQ+ rights, until the overlapping audio layers rendered the spoken words meaningless, Nov. 22-23, 2017.