Adam Helms draws attention to the continuum between past and present states of violence, occupation and injustice. Helms uses composite images sourced through the internet and unearthed in library archives to suggest a frontier that is both familiar and distant. His hand is revealed in the work through drawings, thus making personal the interior story of each image. The exhibition of new works on paper and a large- scale sculpture at MCA DENVER – his first solo museum installation – portrays radical political groups and extremist subcultures throughout history.

Adam Helms was born in the United States in 1974 and currently lives and works in New York, NY. Helms received an MFA from Yale University, New Haven, CT and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. He has shown in group exhibitions at Ballroom Marfa, Texas; Kunsthalle und Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna, Austria and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, NY among others. Helms was the recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award and was a recent artist in residence at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.

Above: Adam Helms, Shadow (Portrait of a jihadi), 2008, Double sided silkscreen on vellum, 40 x 26 inches, Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Sister Gallery, Los Angeles