These Eyes Have Seen

Alonzo Adams’s realistic canvases explore the Black experience in ways that have garnered the admiration of notable collectors and art enthusiasts nationwide. Throughout the Fall 2024 semester, the Rutgers–Camden Center of the Arts is showcasing the New Jersey native and Rutgers alum’s singular works and perspective. 

The exhibition “These Eyes Have Seen” will feature more than 20 of Adams’s paintings, many of them recent works that reflect on the themes of Black identity and racial injustice. 

I paint scenes from life: the good, the bad, the joys, the sorrows. I feel I’ve been charged with that as a creative.

Alonzo Adams

Early on in Adams’s career, a mentor and friend inspired him to develop his artistic voice: The poet and author Maya Angelou, whom he called a source of truth and wisdom, advised him, “Young Mr. Adams, you have to go out into the world, soak it up like a sponge, bring it back to your studio, and just wring it out,” he recalled. 

Taking Angelou’s words to heart, Adams views himself as a griot, a West African term for a traveling storyteller who relays history, typically through spoken word. Drawn from his own observations, experiences, and travels, Adams’s canvases depict the many facets of contemporary Black experiences, ensuring that Black culture is represented in the art world. 

“I paint scenes from life: the good, the bad, the joys, the sorrows. I feel I’ve been charged with that as a creative,” Adams said. “It's important for us to be seen, valued, and included in the conversation. That's what I try to do with my work: speak my truth as I see it.” 

I’ve been on this earth for 62 years, and I’ve seen a lot. I’ve experienced a lot. With this exhibit, I want to let the world see what I’ve seen through my lens.

Alonzo Adams

Adams discovered his passion early in life. As a child, he spent a lot of time alone, the result of multiple operations to correct his vision and nose. The young Adams found solace in drawing, falling in love with white paper and its endless possibilities, and said that time brought him to art.  

He attended Rutgers University initially for engineering but struggled with calculus. Adams then told his mother he wanted to be an artist and was bolstered in his quest by a professor at Mason Gross School of the Arts who spoke of his student’s talent and potential.

“He talked my mother into letting me switch my major to art, and it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” Adams said. “I haven’t looked back since then.” 

The alumnus briefly returned to the New Brunswick campus earlier this year to showcase part of his collection at the Zimmerli Art Museum for the exhibit “Alonzo Adams: A Griot’s Vision.” 

With “These Eyes Have Seen,” the storyteller hopes to leave his mark on the Rutgers University–Camden campus community. “I’ve been on this earth for 62 years, and I’ve seen a lot. I’ve experienced a lot. With this exhibit, I want to let the world see what I’ve seen through my lens,” he said. “I try to paint things that touch my heart, and hopefully my work will touch people’s hearts.” 

Rutgers University–Camden/Ron Downes Jr.

Alonzo Adams (b. 1961) is a painter raised in Plainfield, New Jersey. He earned a BFA from Rutgers-New Brunswick, Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1984 and an MFA from University of Pennsylvania in 1991. His work has been featured in many venues, including Howard University, the Morris Museum, Forbes Galleries, and the Studio Museum in Harlem. In 2004, Adams was one of the first inductees into the Rutgers African American Alumni Alliance’s Hall of Fame.