Adrian Coleman (b. 1984) is a British-born American painter. He recently returned to Brooklyn, New York, after living for four years in London.
His last body of work considered the paradox of his relationship to Britain, as a native and an outsider. In his paintings of South London, he combined tropes of “Britishness” with themes of transplantation, belonging, and estrangement. His use of watercolor referred to the English picturesque tradition, although his landscapes were gritty and dislocated rather than idyllic.
His previous New York paintings often featured cross-sectioned landscapes that examined urban disjunctions and the frictions of gentrification.
Currently, Coleman is making paintings of both New York and London (in oil and watercolor respectively), exploring a sense of forboding at both ends of the “Special Relationship”.
Coleman studied painting and architecture at Yale University (BA, 2006) and received his masters degree from Columbia (M.Arch., 2012). Coleman is a winner of the 2012 Brooklyn Museum GO Open Studio Competition. He appeared in the Bronx Museum's 2015 Biennial and BRIC's 2016 Brooklyn Biennial. In 2017, Steven Amedee Gallery in Manhattan presented a solo exhibition of his work. In London, Coleman has participated in group exhibitions at the Mall Galleries, Peckham Levels, and the Willis Museum. In 2020, Adrian was awarded the Hopper Prize. In 2021, his show “Citizens of Nowhere” appeared at Taymour Grahne projects in London.