Adam Daley Wilson / Engage Projects Gallery Chicago

January 2026 Update

Practice Summary

1.  Practice to Date (2014–2025)

Adam Daley Wilson (b. 1971) is a self-taught conceptual artist and appellate attorney (Stanford Law, Univ. of Pennsylvania). He unexpectedly began producing his current art a decade ago in 2014 (then age 42) following his psychiatrist’s medication adjustment for his Bipolar I disorder diagnosed decades earlier.

The resulting unexpected hypomanic episodes—abnormally elevated brain activity associated with accelerated/broader relational recognition and associative-making—allowed existing conceptual material in his brain, accumulated over his intellectual lifetime, to connect and discharge in ways thought physiologically unavailable under non-abnormal (euthymic) neurochemical conditions.

This made his creative ideation/execution method unique as to time: (1) For months, even years: Possible connections between unrelated things would accumulate in his mind, with no art made. (2) Then in just seconds: Suddenly two things would be clear: the full connection, and how to manifest it. (3) Then immediate and rapid execution, start to finish: just minutes. (He lives in his studio and keeps blank canvas hanging, in his hallway, always ready.)

This ideation/execution method from 2014 to 2025— that is, the accumulations of inchoate relations for months and years; then instant clarity; then rapid execution in just minutes—were thought to be resulting to some degree from the new hypomanias that were constant for the decade after the psychiatric meds change in 2014.

2. Hypomanias Potentially Tapering (2025–2026)

Daley Wilson is now 54. In males with Bipolar I disorder, hypomanic episodes often begin to fade with age after 50, and depressive episodes are likely to increase. Over the course of 2025, he observed some potential evidence of this; there appeared to be a possible fading or tapering of the hypomanias that have been constant since 2014.

3. Performative Research and Documentation (2026–2050+)

Aware of these possible changes and their possible relevance, Wilson intends a performative piece to test whether his brain’s ideation/execution process can be formalized and reproduced even if the hypomanias were to taper to zero at some future point in time. This remainder-of-years performative research will attempt to follow the scientific method:

Research Question:

Can Daley Wilson’s unique time elements of his ideations/executions, which are thought to result at least partially from an abnormal mental illness disorder, also occur under brain conditions that are primarily euthymic (normal, non-hypomanic)?

(1.) Testable Hypothesis: Euthymic methods either can or cannot be found and learned that will allow the observed 2014-2025 ideation/execution method to continue even through changes as to frequency and intensity of the hypomanias.

(2.) Data Collection: Going forward, when the art arises, systematically document all ideation/execution time variables, and artistic results, across the three neurochemistry states that are anticipated to occur during his aging into his 60s and 70s, that is, during: (a) remaining abnormal hypomania states; (b) increasing non-abnormal euthymic states; and (c) any potential depressive states.

(3.) Analysis: Compare 2026–2050 variables against the 2014–2025 baseline, examining temporal patterns of ideation/execution, resulting artistic output, external receptions/evaluations of artworks, and related psychiatric data (such as the timing and effects of any medication adjustments, and data from standard quarterly blood work labs).

(4.) Conclusions: Ongoing objective interpretation and archiving of findings.

4. Anticipated Artistic Works Within the 2026-2050+ Performance

This performative research and documentation will use the artistic works that Daley Wilson produces during the performance period (2026-2050+). These artistic works will likely manifest in the three primary ways that have been seen since 2014:

(a) “inscription paintings”—large-scale oil stick paintings of his conceptual ideations—hundreds of words expressing a cohesive idea, rendered partially abstract by layers of overwriting in his personal writing system;

(b) “text over image”—mid-size to large-scale oil paintings of his ambiguous short phrases that come periodically, placed over his abstracted photography of water/sky;

(c) “artist-placed public documents”—his periodic performative acts as artist-lawyer of placing actual and viable legal test cases of public interest into society’s courts of law, doubling as text-based activist art — where the procedurally-mandated responses by court actors constitute visible art performances about issues of public importance —and also possibly new legal rulings that benefit the public interest.

Initial data is anticipated on a rolling basis.

cv, artist statement, press: please contact engage projects in chicago.

practice areas to date: oil painting, installation, video, theory, artist-placed public documents, performance.

anticipated additional practice areas: human storytelling, human critique.

Please scroll down for prior updates.

Mid-2025 Update

Summer 2025 — 3rd solo show — This Is Post-Theory Art — engage projects gallery in chicago.

Spring 2025 — public art selection / 12 artists worldwide — Override — 2025 EXPO Chicago international art fair — details here.

2024-2025 Update

Adam Daley Wilson lives and works in his hallway studio / tiny flat in Portland Maine; represented by engage projects, a conceptual art gallery in chicago, since 2020. To date, 2 of his 3 solo exhibitions have been selected by Artforum magazine as ‘Must See’ in Chicago. Starting in 2024 he has been listed as a global top-100 living artist in the combined areas of postconceptualism, postminimalism, text-based art, and activist art (Artfacts, London).

Critics on his first solo show: “profound and ambiguous”; “his writings are as interesting as his paintings”; “it is rare that one encounters [work] with such depth . . . [Daley Wilson] brings a complexity and gravitas to his work that is too often lacking in contemporary art.”

Mental illness backstory: Some parts of his conceptual ideastions/executions arise from heightened electrical, chemical, and neural activity due to his hypomanias arising from his Bipolar 1 disorder, originally diagnosed in 2000. The hypomanias result in unusual relational / associative perceptions about things not commonly connected, as to things both concrete and inchoate. His work is informed by, but not about, the mental illness. Daley Wilson is interested in the the human universal, not his personal.

Career Snapshot to Date (as of End 2025)

3 solo shows; 7 group shows; 4 international art fairs; Expo Chicago international art fair public art selection … the gallery places 2-3 pieces each year in established collections (New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Miami, Chicago, other). Additional: Artforum — ‘Must See’ in Chicago — first two solo shows 2021 and 2023; Mousse Magazine (Italy) — selected best shows aligned with Expo Chicago 2023; emerging art theory: SSRN published article — art theory about post-theory art — ssrn.com

Below: Images from first two solo shows in Chicago at Engage Projects (2021, 2023).

Adam Daley Wilson has been represented by Engage Projects in Chicago since 2020.

ENGAGE Projects (Jennifer Armetta, gallerist / owner) is a commercial gallery in Chicago with an international reputation in multidisciplinary conceptual art. As of end 2025 the gallery currently represents about twenty artists from several countries/continents.

gallery artists have exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, The Tate Modern, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, and elsewhere.

About the Studio

I live and work in my studio. It’s in Portland, Maine. I use my hallway to hang my canvasses for my large-scale paintings. It’s 27 feet long and 3 feet wide.

Some of the Artists that I’ve Shown With

Since representation in 2020 I’ve appeared in shows with Alec Soth, Alberto Aguilar, Nick Cave, Bob Faust, Alejandro Figueredo Diaz-Perera, Chris Larson, David Leggett, Derrick Woods-Morrow, Edra Soto, Xie Hongdong, Hasan Elahi, Jovan C. Speller, Jean Alexander Frater, Sharon Louden, Morgan, and Nick Albertson, among others.

Backstory: Law Then Art

As the formal art career develops, the formal law career is winding down. After law school, I practiced in the areas of antitrust (civil and white collar criminal), soft intellectual property, constitutional (first amendment, constitutional/human rights), and appellate law (appeals before federal and state courts) for almost 20 years, including at some of the world’s leading international law firms based in DC, SF, and LA, with traditional (non-art) degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford Law. I’ve also practiced disability rights law and in areas relating to mental illness stigma advocacy.

Gallery Contact

engage projects gallery chicago — jennifer armetta, director / owner — jennifer@engage-projects.com

adam.daley.wilson@gmail.com — 207-699-9957

Selected Press and Publications

Third solo show reviewed by art critic Teddy Sandler in New City Art (Chicago), June 26, 2025.

Second solo show featured in Mousse Magazine (Italy) in its “curated roundup of the best contemporary art exhibitions and events held by galleries, museums, and institutions in town during [EXPO Chicago 2023],” 4/10/23

Second solo show on Artforum’s must see list, Chicago, 2023

First solo show on Artforum’s must see list, Chicago, 2021

First solo show reviewed by art critic Michel Ségard in New Art Examiner (Chicago), March 2021 Issue.

NBC New Center Maine features, 2/16/21 and 2/23/21

Conceptual Theory Art as a Method for Interdisciplinary Research, Hypothesis, and Critical Analysis Both Within and Beyond Traditional Western Social Sciences (August 01, 2024). Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4913371

Selected Performance Pieces and Happenings 

If You Let Yourself Think About It (Theory Art Piece 1, Artist-Placed Public Document 1). Artist’s physical act of placing a VARA-qualifying text-based visual artwork, about a social justice legal theory of first impression in the United States, within the Supreme Court of a State, causing the justices to be both audience and actors in a happening about journalism as art and legal theory as art, 2023-2024.

Theory As Art, Journalism As Art, Law As Art (Theory Art Pieces 2, 3, 4, Artist-Placed Public Documents 2, 3, 4). Ongoing placements of VARA-qualifying text artworks within judicial branches and courts, each causing happenings within courts as to the art of journalism, the art of law, and theory as art, 2023-2026.

Look At What We Have Created No. 2. Live creation of personal writing system painting and happening with roughly 20 viewer-participants, second solo show, during EXPO Chicago, 2023.

Do You Own Conceptual Ownership? 4-day performance with video, installation, tangible art ownership experiment, and conceptual social justice ownership experiment. Guest artist project by invitation. The Other Art Fair New York, Nov. 8-11, 2018.

Some Feelings And Thoughts I’ll Have Any Second. 4-day performance with installation and conceptual video. The Other Art Fair New York, Nov. 18-22, 2017.

Look At What We Have Created. 12.25-hour performance walk through New York City, overnight, playing 6 tracks of audio from artist’s backpack, creating layers of words from academics personally known by the artist discussing issues from mass incarceration to LGBTQ+ rights, until the overlapping audio layers rendered the spoken words meaningless, Nov. 22-23, 2017.

CV

Updated December 2024

Adam Daley Wilson

he/him. Lives and works in Portland Maine. Represented by ENGAGE Projects since 2020.

Solo Exhibitions

2025

This Is Post-Theory Art. (Chicago, Engage Projects Gallery, June 6 - July 11, 2025).

2023                         

This Is Text Based Art.  (Chicago, Engage Projects Gallery, April 14 – May 26 2023).  Artforum ‘Must See’ in Chicago.

2021                          

Already Gone.  (Chicago, Aspect/Ratio Projects (now Engage Projects), February 6 – March 13, 2021). Artforum ‘Must See.’

Group Exhibitions

2024

Ikigai. (Chicago, Engage Projects Gallery, November 8, 2024 - January 4, 2025)

2022                          

Portland Debuts. (Portland Maine, Cove Street Arts, September 29 – November 19, 2022)

2022                          

Arts and Conversations. (West Palm Beach, Arts & Conversations Gallery, February 9 – February 28, 2022)

2021                          

VAA 37th Juried Exhibition (Houston, Visual Arts Alliance, August 25 – September 25, 2021)

2020                          

Fever Dream. (Chicago, Aspect/Ratio Projects, December 5, 2020 – January 16 2021)

Juried Art Fairs

2018                          

The Other Art Fair New York (as invited guest artist) (New York, November 8 – 11, 2018)

2017                          

The Other Art Fair London

The Other Art Fair New York

Artist Talks

2024

Four-person joint program (Stanford Law School)

2023                          

Two-artist joint program (Chicago)

2022                          

Two-artist joint program (West Palm Beach)

2021                          

Eight-artist joint program (Chicago)

Reviews, Press, Notable

2024                          

First published paper on art theory and philosophy of art (Social Science Research Network, August 1, 2024).

2024                          

Artfacts (Berlin) raking of top 5% and top 10% (US / Global) of over 1m gallery represented artists.

2024                          

Artfacts ranking of top 1% for artists associated with post-conceptualism, postminimalism, text-based art, and activist art.

2023                          

Second solo show named ‘must see’ in Chicago by Artforum.

2023                          

Second solo show named one of the ‘best contemporary art exhibitions’ aligned with EXPO Chicago 2023.

2021                          

First solo show selected for critical review, New Art Examiner, Chicago.

2021                          

First solo show named ‘must see’ in Chicago by Artforum.

2021                          

NBC New Center Maine press coverage of first solo show in relation to mental illness stigma advocacy.

2021                          

Two works selected, honorable mentions, jurist Dr. Harry Cooper, Head of Modern Art, National Gallery, Washington, DC.

2019                          

Anonymous nomination, Spannocchia Artist Residency (Sienna Italy)

2018                          

Invited Guest Artist, The Other Art Fair (New York)

2017                          

You Only Live Once In American Violence, Saatchi Art Spring 2017 Catalog, New Media ink on paper.

2016                          

Los Angeles Times appearance (artwork with collector), March 13, 2016.

Collections

Private and corporate collections including in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Paris, Miami.

Education

University of Pennsylvania, B.A. Stanford Law School, J.D.

Public and Government Service                             

Informal mentoring, young artists, US and international, 2018-present. Board of Trustees, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, 2019-2020. Board, Yellow Tulip Project, mental illness stigma advocacy, 2020-2023. State court mediator, 2009-2013. Disability rights legal advocacy, 2014-2017. Pro bono legal counseling for artists and creative non-profits regarding intellectual property rights and artist moral rights, 2018-present. Pro bono constitutional law advocacy for non-profits, including First Amendment rights, 2000-2004. Judicial Law Clerk, US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia, 2004-2006.

Separately in the art world, as a lawyer, not an artist, he has also served as outside Head of Legal for an international strategy and exhibitions partner for art museums and art institutions in the United States, Europe, and Asia. One such exhibition was recently listed by a leading US periodical as one of the best major art exhibitions in the United States in 2025.

— Updated December 2024.