There is an old trope that every painting is a self-portrait. I see this the same way that Hindus see themselves as monotheists. Every god in their pantheon is just another incarnation of Brahman: one universal being. These birds and souls are all incarnations of an idea with many forms. I have a friend who is an actress and an expert birder, she tries to see inside the mind of a bird the same way she inhabits a role on stage. This kind of immersion in the natural world of observation leads to an intuition and a fuller experience of being alive in the moment, at least I hope so. In each drawing I try to express the essence of each subject, sometimes as an incarnation of place and sometimes as a human experience of being in the water or in direct contact with the elements. Depicting the squid as an impression printed with their own ink has a satisfying ring of authenticity. The india ink used on mylar film also has a life of its own, pooling in unpredictable ways. All of these images come from the almanac of the Cape Cod seasons, some were even painted at Edgewood Farm where I lives for 14 years due to the graciousness of Eleanor Meldahl. We often discussed art late in the evenings outside her kitchen window. Much of this work is implicitly dedicated to her.
Mark Adams 08.06.2020

Mark Adams is a painter, printmaker, cartographer and traveler based on the outer Cape for more than 20 years. He works making maps for that Cape Cod National Seashore and shows work at the Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown. His paintings, maps and sketchbooks were part of a solo retrospective at the Provincetown Art Association in October-November 2017.