Art Matters: A Tribute to Bruce Adams (1952-2021)
For over 40 years, Bruce Adams was a steady force in the Buffalo arts community, educating generations of artists and developing art that challenged his audiences.
Eighteen years ago this summer, Art on Wheels was the cultural attraction that had residents and visitors alike mapping out their tours of Buffalo Niagara to see all 64 works of art featuring cars and wheels transformed into sculpture, assemblage, or paintings. Created by the Burchfield Penney Art Center and the Materials Reuse Project, this six-month public art exhibit became a tourist attraction, and more importantly, a community celebration of WNY’s historical, technological, and cultural richness.
Cornell ILR in Buffalo and the United Auto Workers Region 9 partnered to sponsor one of the art installations, one to portray and honor the workers of Buffalo’s storied auto industry. The artist who answered that call was Bruce Adams, and the powerful tribute to auto workers is his massive and detailed painting Labor Matters. Bruce painted this grand mural in the style of social realism, a movement that has been called art with social principles. In title as in image, Labor Matters declares a moral concern, celebrates the extraordinary achievements of ordinary working people.
Bruce Adams died this spring, leaving an extraordinary legacy of art, art education, literary and social commentary, and visionary cultural leadership. Leaving our community with an enormous loss, he also leaves us with a more profound understanding of the many ways that Art Matters. We share this again in tribute to our friend, the creative community builder, Bruce Adams.
-Lou Jean Fleron, June 2021