Cey Adams, a New York City native, emerged from the downtown graffiti movement to exhibit alongside fellow artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. His practice involves dissecting imagery and paper elements to build multiple layers of color, texture, shadow and light. Cey draws inspiration from ‘60s pop art, sign painting, comic books and popular culture.
Cey was the Creative Director of Def Jam Recordings, where he founded the Drawing Board, the label’s in-house visual design firm that created visual identities, album covers, logos and advertising campaigns for Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., Maroon 5 and Jay-Z, among others. He has exhibited, lectured and given workshops at numerous institutions including MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, New York University, the Walker Art Center, MoCA Los Angeles, Pratt Institute, Stanford University, Howard University, the High Museum, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. His traveling retrospective exhibition Cey Adams, Departure: 40 Years of Art and Design was organized by Boston University in 2022. Cey co-authored DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop (Harper Collins) and designed Def Jam Recordings: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label (Rizzoli). He was also the curator of The MASH UP, Hip-Hop Photos Remixed by Iconic Graffiti Artists (Hat & Beard Press), and both a member of the curatorial committee and the creative designer for the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip Hop and Rap. Bio courtesy of the artist’s gallery.
