Adam Schrader, a “Master of Journalism” according to the University of North Texas, is an award-winning reporter who has written for publications including Artnet News, UPI, New York Post, New York Daily News, The Dallas Morning News and Griffith Review.
While working for the British tabloid Daily Mail during the COVID-19 pandemic, Adam realized he needed a hobby to keep himself sane amid the pressures of journalism and lockdown measures. He had been making hand-drawn children’s books during his downtime at work that he self-published on Amazon, but which had received criticism for amateur illustration skill, further motivating him to switch to the art world. He enrolled in the B.F.A. program at Brooklyn College and is now a multi-disciplinary artist making works that reflect his experiences in the news industry.
As a long-time tabloid news reporter who has seen too many dead bodies, Adam makes art like he packages the news: quickly, as if there is an imminent deadline, and probably too sensational. His works often focus on sociopolitical themes mirroring the latest headlines – topics like his own experiences with new parenthood in a post-Roe v. Wade world.
He is interested in the effects of surrealism on photography, how to use photographic techniques to make surrealist-inspired art in other mediums and the blending of analog and digital mediums. Those interests are best shown in his works Three Endings (A Pregnancy Reveal Film) (2023), which used cyanotype printmaking to make a stop-motion video screened digitally, and Candid which used Polaroid images with embedded videos to create an augmented reality dive into my experiences with oncoming fatherhood. Inspired by the intimacy of photographers such as Nan Goldin, Adam decided to reveal some of his and his partner’s most private moments (with her permission) using this enhanced medium. Additionally, Portrait of Brujuja (Weegee Distortion) which is a monoprint drawing based on a photograph manipulated and warped digitally in Photoshop. He has been increasingly using printmaking techniques in his art.
With the film Three Endings, Adam wanted to create a video that had a sense of timelessness and universality, void of any names or identifiable locations, or technology. He contacted an acting friend he met on the set of another production and asked him if he wanted to be a part of it. Adam drafted a video version first and when happy with the shot list, photographed the film’s two actors frame-by-frame one afternoon in September 2022 using a Sony a7ii camera. He primarily used close-up shots to give a sense of intimacy for the viewer, hoping anyone who sees the film can reflect on their own reaction to a pregnancy reveal.
Once the photographs were all shot, Adam printed negatives from them on Octago and InkPress transparency sheets. More than 351 negatives were made, including the title cards, over the next several months — each of which took between five to ten minutes to print on an inkjet photo printer. He then began printing the cyanotypes on Canson watercolor paper using UV lightboxes at Brooklyn College with guidance and oversight from Professor Edward Coppola.
Adam hoped the process would give the film a hand-crafted, silent film effect. Each sheet of paper had to be hand-coated in cyanotype chemicals and exposed for at least eight minutes under the UV lights. Because the cyanotype printmaking process can be relatively unpredictable, as far as photographic processes go, the exposure and application of chemicals varied — giving this video its unique effect. When the stills were all completed, he scanned each frame and assemble the video in Premiere Pro. The video was completed in April 2023 — just as he was expecting his baby girl.
Beyond his recent B.F.A. from Brooklyn College, Adam has a master’s degree in journalism and a bachelor’s degree in music. He likes to incorporate elements of sound and video in his art when it fits because of this, and has issued several releases on Spotify of experimental art music. He is currently working on completing and finding an exhibition space for a documentary about migration.
When it comes to writing, Adam is interested in penning art news — particularly on the convergence of artificial intelligence and the visual arts — as well as conducting research into the history of photography, including technical processes and the application of art theory to contemporary photography and photojournalism. He hopes to continue both making art and writing about art as he further steps away from the news industry.