Adam Bloom‘s dissected bodies call to my soul in their silent voices. Looking at his dark and heavy earth-toned paintings is like watching an autopsy through bloody eyes. However, his paintings do not invoke death, despite the state of their subjects – they are fully alive and moving and communicating with the viewer. This Southern UK artist captures the poignancy of darkness so well in his colors and in the expression of his subjects, whose flesh is often ripped from their bones, or carefully removed like cuts from a cow. In fact, much of his work invokes modern day butchery, where we take apart the bodies of animals in huge factory settings and hang their decaying corpses in acres of meat locker. Bloom’s work makes us aware of our own dissection at the hands of society – a concept that is particularly resonant for women, most of us have felt like stripped pieces of meat since the age of 12 – and his portrayals of babies invoke the idea that we begin life this way, ripped apart before we are able to see who is tearing at us. Many of his subjects appear to be holding themselves together or grasping at their mutilated bodies, perhaps hoping that they will be able to piece themselves together. Whatever the case, Bloom’s paintings speak on a subconscious level, and have the ability to send thoughts spinning through your mind. After the jump, check out a gallery of Adam Bloom’s work, and ask yourself what you see…
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