A memory song is a cumulative song. With each verse, something new is added. The chorus is an accumulation of all the verses sung in reverse, working backwards to the beginning.

Interested foremost in drawing, Adam Janes practices primarily as a book maker, thinking about images in a sequential manor, the timing of one thing after another and the space that’s in between. His sculptural practice is influenced by his experience as a carpenter in the construction trade. In 2011, Adam purchased an abandoned house in Highland Park, CA and has spent the last 14 years expanding and updating the house and property. Many of the components of the sculptures are built from the house’s construction. His studio is built into his backyard. 

Memory Song is composed of drawings and sculptures. It is the artist’s reduction of materials and palette. The drawings are made with pigmented wax on paper mounted on board. The sculptures are crudely painted wood sketches of minimal structures (a table, a ladder, a window or door). The installation is a flow of drawings and realized constructions attempting a nonspecific narrative, perhaps a poem.

“I invite people to make their own connections between the objects. The work is in a provisional state, a sketch like state. A semi-permanent existence that allows for change, bordering on the humorous. The intention is simple honesty.“ Adam Braly Janes

Adam Janes is a Los Angeles based multi-discipline artist. Born in 1976 in Hurst, Texas, he was raised in Seattle, Washington. After arriving in Southern California, he worked as an artist assistant for Jason Rhodes, Richard Jackson, and Paul McCarthy. Adam’s first solo show in 2004 was with Thomas Solomon in Los Angeles. His handmade books were acquired by MOCA’s library and the museum acquired a large scroll drawing shortly thereafter. He continues to work with Galerie Vallois in Paris and has done projects at Tim Van Laere in Antwerp, Belgium, Blum and Poe in Los Angeles, and the historical China Art Objects in Chinatown. LACMA and the Jumex collection in Mexico City are other institutions that have collected drawings and sculptures.