First Folio: A solo exhibition by Adam Fu opening online April 2nd in NYC.
Shakespeare wrote some of his greatest works in confinement. Or as Emma Smith wrote in her op-ed for the New York Times recently “Plague erased social, gender and personal differences. Shakespeare responded by emphasizing people’s unique and in-erasable difference. His work is a narrative vaccine.” I love that.
In early 2020 Marc Leader and I decided we would mount my first Manhattan solo exhibition at his gallery 212 Arts in the lower East Side. The date to open was April 2nd. I had made the decision to do an all paper show but I hadn’t yet decided what the show would be focused on. I figured at first it would be text based as that is what I am known for but I wanted to address language in particular.
Then the Corona Virus pandemic gripped my city and the world and we had to reevaluate our whole plan.
Around the same time I was searching for two of the men in my life that acted in some way as father figures. My own father died from lung cancer when I was 5 and lots of great men stood in his place through these formative years. I thought of Frank Stone, a Viet Nam Vet who would take us to San Francisco every Sunday to participate in a brass band that I played snare drum in. The other was a man named Ed Mosman. He would take us to Alum Rock in San Jose to rock climb and free boulder. However it was Terry Lenhart that really stuck out in my mind. Terry was my 8th grade English teacher and above all else Terry introduced me to the writings of Shakespeare that year.
In 1989 I was a pretty good student in that I came to school every day and was eager to be there. But not necessarily eager to study. I was there to socialize. I was class clown and enjoyed that role as I had for many years. It didn’t make for good grades but I thought popularity would take me further anyway. Terry noticed my grades slipping. He also noticed my obsession with hip hop and rap music and he made the equation to me and my pals that Shakespeare was the original rapper! I bought into this wholeheartedly. I wasn’t an immediate fan of the Bard but the seed was planted. Thank you Mr. Lenhart!
Later I studied at Ruth Asawa SF School of the Arts as a Drama major. I barely graduated from Highschool but studying Shakespeare deeper at SOTA was important. I worked on a monologue from a Mid Summer Night’s Dream there. 10 years later in NYC at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts I used the same monologue for my audition. At AADA I dove head first into Theatre History and loved getting into the weeds on Shakespeare’s writings as well as his contemporaries like Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson.
When I graduated from AADA in 2007 my first professional theatre I booked was with The Drilling Company/ Shakespeare in the Parking Lot in a production of Much Ado About Nothing. I played Borrachio opposite my future wife Jane who played Margaret. The two mischief makers in the show. Perfect casting. I did several productions with TDC and married Jane in 2011.
I tell you all of this to emphasize the importance of the written works of Shakespeare in my life and how it has led me to great experiences and now to my show at 212 Arts.
Language has always been a passionate interest of mine. Rap, graffiti, Shakespeare or podcasting all are focused on the word. When I think of how Shakespeare wrote and possibly spoke day to day I wonder how he would have faired with our new dominant communication form: Texting. And more specifically Emoji. Like many of you I have been a huge fan of this visual language since the inception in the late 1990’s and love watching how it has morphed into something much more serious and worthy of scholarly interest.
In First Folio I wanted to explore translation for some of the pieces. Like using the HOT DOG 🌭 Emoji over the quote from Romeo and Juliet, “OH happy dagger this is thy sheath”. There is no sexual innuendo in this text… or is there? I was taught by one professor that ALL of Shakespeares writings were sexual. I don’t believe that, but I will tell you that it helped me memorize his works when I was in drama school. I also think it’s more fun to smut up text that may need a bit more emphasis and color.
We will have a 360 degree virtual tour of the space and the pieces will be able to be viewed in high resolution there. We hope to also have narration on every piece by me so as you walk through you can hear a few thoughts on the piece from me. The same casual conversation I would have with you if we were together in the space.
Fingers crossed we have the time and the tech to pull that off. No matter how the online experience is, I am happy and proud to be accomplishing what I set out to do.
Our opening on Thursday April 2nd will be hindered by the Corona Virus outbreak. As I write this I am in the epicenter, New York City. Specifically Bushwick Brooklyn where the first NYC Covid was 19 death occurred. Today the US has the grim status of more infections than China.
While we are locked down, shut down, sheltered in place and self quarantining I am so happy to say that our show will continue! In the words of the Bard, “The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope.”
