British artist-writer, author of "White Spirit", "The Naked Spur" and "How to Start a Dissident Art Movement". View art at https://teapawt.net/t.co/Tuxve1Pjbd
Joined July 2018
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Alexander Adams retweeted
If you wonder about today's art, consider these two novels. Written from the inside, they show how students are encouraged to pursue bizarre experiments to please tutors and chase critical acclaim. They explore how personal weaknesses drive artists into the arms of the art world. If you want to understand the state of art, I recommend this pair of novels.
Alexander Adams retweeted
Generative AI made digital perfection free, which in turn made it worthless. The next avant-garde belongs to the friction of human hands. @lukesgilfedder @AdamsArtist
Alexander Adams retweeted
Traditionalist without being anachronistic, these two books by @AdamsArtist will inoculate the reader from the dehumanising ideology that dominates the humanities and the arts scene today. Published by @imperiumpress1.
Alexander Adams retweeted
"White Spirit" is a novel about an art student in London in the 1990s. Beyond being a documentation of what happened, it is an examination of the lies I was sold (knowingly and unknowingly) by the system, by my colleagues and by myself.
As you read the book, you'll see all the beautiful traps we set for ourselves, as creators and professionals. I'm sure you'll recognise some of those. The lies you tell yourself are the worst because they are the most convincing and the hardest to escape.
Dissenters (including me) spend a lot of time decrying the state of the system. It is a lot harder to look into yourself and discover that most of your plight is of your own making.
Alexander Adams retweeted
Sounds like a fascinating read
UK Paperback link.amazon/B0iR02uVe
🎨🖼️👇
"White Spirit" is a novel about an art student in London in the 1990s. Beyond being a documentation of what happened, it is an examination of the lies I was sold (knowingly and unknowingly) by the system, by my colleagues and by myself.
As you read the book, you'll see all the beautiful traps we set for ourselves, as creators and professionals. I'm sure you'll recognise some of those. The lies you tell yourself are the worst because they are the most convincing and the hardest to escape.
Dissenters (including me) spend a lot of time decrying the state of the system. It is a lot harder to look into yourself and discover that most of your plight is of your own making.
Alexander Adams retweeted
An art-theatre stream where @AdamsArtist and myself joined the New Pantheon channel for a discussion about John Logan's play 'Red' about Mark Rothko and his Seagram murals.
youtu.be/A7tEm66zcIY?si=3Yg1…
Alexander Adams retweeted
There is an excerpt from White Spirit in the Solstice mag. Grab a copy to check it out.
If you wonder about today's art, consider these two novels. Written from the inside, they show how students are encouraged to pursue bizarre experiments to please tutors and chase critical acclaim. They explore how personal weaknesses drive artists into the arms of the art world. If you want to understand the state of art, I recommend this pair of novels.
Alexander Adams retweeted
"BBC removes 11 Mitchell and Webb comedy sketches from iPlayer"
Aside from memory-holing recent culture, moves like this disrupt cultural transmission at large. For example, there exists a comic cycle: plenty of Mitchell and Webb sketches are reanimations of earlier comedy duos' ideas. That relationship with the past is deemed a priori "problematic".
The cuts prevent us from understanding that our predecessors (or we) found blackface (in this example) funny — that there is a continuity and that we are not different people at the core.
We must, instead, find humour in our sterile, joyless present. A tall order when we cannot believe that even people happier than us ever laughed.
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6jd…
Alexander Adams retweeted
Solstice magazine is now for sale. If you wish to read yours truly alongside a whole host of other artists and critics, while also supporting a little arts magazine, do consider purchasing a copy below:
Alexander Adams retweeted
Another brilliant art-driven episode of Content Minded is here. @AdamsArtist comes on the show again to talk many things including contemporary art, the legacy of David Hockney, trads vs. eroticism and his recent critique of Atelier Missor and much more, link below👇
Alexander Adams retweeted
People have asked me which is the best book for them to start with. I'd say "White Spirit". Chronologically and tonally it is an easier place to start.
Alexander Adams retweeted
NEW BOOK — White Spirit
Alexander Adams’s semi-autobiographical novel about his beginnings as an artist in gritty 1990s London.
Arriving in London to begin an art course, the student A. has illusions about training as an Old Master at the epicentre of conceptualism and multi-media art. Over three years, A. lives among hopeful contenders in a city on the cusp of an art boom. White Spirit gives us a candid, tough portrait of London in the 1990s and an acute dissection of one generation’s ambition and delusion.
A prequel to Adams’s novel The Naked Spur (Exeter House, 2025).
Get your copy now. Link in the comments below 👇
Alexander Adams retweeted
"Arriving in London to begin an art course, the student A. has illusions about training as an Old Master at the epicentre of conceptualism and multi-media art. Over three years, A. lives among hopeful contenders in a city on the cusp of an art boom. White Spirit gives us a candid, tough portrait of London in the 1990s and an acute dissection of one generation’s ambition and delusion."
A prequel to Adams’s The Naked Spur (Exeter House, 2025).
Alexander Adams, White Spirit, Exeter House, Perth, 8 September 2026, PB/EB, 522pp, £18.99
Alexander Adams retweeted
The collection of all the books I've written for Prestel (so far). Anyone have the full set?
Alexander Adams retweeted
It’s really exciting to see the final proofs of this forthcoming book “Museums and Patronage: the History and Ethics of Industrial Funding” edited by incredible experts. Art illustrations (c) @AdamsArtist.
You can pre-order yours here: uolpress.co.uk/book/museums-…
I’ve had the honour to contribute to this brilliant book on museums and patronage (@UoLPress), testing the concept of “post-cultural state”.
I developed the concept last year, first for @EngelsbergIdeas and later on substack. It is a cornerstone of my forthcoming publication with @politybooks, “Artless”. While I research and write, I welcome robust feedback!
👉 open.substack.com/pub/saleml…
👉 engelsbergideas.com/notebook…
👉 uolpress.co.uk/book/museums-…
Alexander Adams retweeted
I am delighted to announce publication of my book "Renoir", Prestel, September 2026, 112pp, 50 col. illus., £10.99/$14.99. It happens to coincide with the exhibition opening at the National Gallery, London.
I had great fun researching the artist and came to appreciate his work much more fully than I had. I chose a few obscure paintings that you will be new to you. Looking forward to reading your comments.
Alexander Adams retweeted
Coming across a letter @AdamsArtist wrote me in 2025 with a hand drawn picture. What a wonderful thing to receive in the mail. Something physical.
