Adam Fuss

Adam Fuss is widely recognized for expanding the possibilities of photography, using techniques like photograms and early photographic processes to create images that engage directly with the processes of life, time, and transformation. Working without a camera for much of his career, he has explored subjects ranging from splashes of water and drifting smoke to birds in flight and christening gowns, combining technical precision with a sensitivity to ephemeral, often unseen forces.

Fuss’s newest body of work, Theia (2024–2025), marks a major development in his approach. Named after the Greek goddess of light and vision, Theia takes up the tradition of still life through a new process: layering flowers and pounding them into rich, textured compositions, which he then photographs. In some works, he incorporates materials like charcoal briquettes to add a graphic intensity and to extend the theme of transformation. Depending on the pressure applied, the flowers remain recognizable or dissolve into rich, abstract fields of color and form. The resulting images move between photography, painting, and sculpture. 

Fuss’s work has been exhibited internationally, with solo shows at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and the Cleveland Museum of Art. In Spring 2025, the Albright-Knox Art Museum in Buffalo will present a solo exhibition dedicated to Theia. His photographs are held in major public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Guggenheim Museum. Fuss lives and works in New York.