Community Spotlight: Adam Normandin
One morning in 2004, Adam Normandin woke up before the sun to search the city for inspiration. This time, he wanted to visit the train tracks by the 4th Street Bridge. Adam set his camera up and took a photo of the still trains, an image that would later serve as a reference for his paintings. He had always been drawn to the overlooked, everyday objects people pass without a second thought: billboards, trains and all the other quiet details of urban life.
As the sun climbed higher from behind the horizon, Adam, satisfied with his morning’s assignment, looked for a place to eat. He followed some signs and found himself at Urth Caffé, where he sat on the patio to enjoy a sandwich. In that quiet moment, a sense of peace washed over him and an idea took shape in his mind: He could picture himself living here.
Adam and his wife officially moved into the Arts District later that year. His studio is his favorite place to be and where he spends most of his time, working meticulously on every detail of his paintings.
Renovation. 24″ x 36″. Acrylics and oil on birch.
“There is poetry in ordinary things. There’s beauty all around us. Most people don’t see that and it bothers me,” Adam explains. “Hopefully, with my art, people start to notice and see that there’s something worthy.”
Adam begins his artistic process by seeing something outside that strikes a chord in him, usually a composition of buildings and totemic structures in the neighborhood. Adam says he doesn’t try to overanalyze why he feels so strongly about what he sees—it’s a spur-of-the-moment reaction. He whips out his iPhone and captures over a dozen photos, taking note of the direction of light, the clouds in the sky, even the specks of dirt on the ground. In his construction, every detail is important.
Back in his studio, Adam transforms the photo into a painting, working section by section. His medium is acrylics on canvas, with an oil glaze finish. To him, painting is cathartic and a way to process the world around him.
”To me, art is ephemeral. I’m not too attached to any piece because art isn’t an object. It happens within a place and time and is always changing.”
In his free time, Adam enjoys running across the neighborhood’s many bridges and cooking. Catch Adam walking with his greyhound-rescue Thunder and at his favorite coffee spot, Verve.
