Biography

Adam Shead is an American multi-disciplinary artist of Armenian descent living in Chicago, Il whose practice spans the realms of music, painting, photography, poetry, and community engagement. Throughout his work Shead hopes to create a space for introspective presence in which the codification of experience is dismantled through the search for personal truth. Through this pursuit of truth Adam hopes to provide a reprieve while simultaneously challenging himself and his audience through active participation in invention, compassion, trust, and grace. Shead’s work is rooted in the exploration of themes such as class, nature, nurture, hierarchical structure, egalitarianism, and absurdism.

Shead can be heard performing regularly throughout the United States and Europe at venues such as Constellation, City of Asylum, Trinosophes, De Ruimte, PACA, and Zaal 100. Shead has performed with the likes of Roscoe Mitchell, Jason Stein, Damon Smith, John Dikeman, Angel Bat Dawid, Mary Oliver, and Ben Zucker; amongst others. Adam has released music with Amalgam, Ears & Eyes Records, Scripts Records, Balance Point Acoustics, Shifting Paradigm Records, and Impermanent Records. Since early 2022 Shead has been a permanent member of the iconic NYC no-wave tinged band Cellular Chaos. Shead is the founder and composer of the Adiaphora Orchestra, Adam Shead Quintet, and microplastique.

In 2016 Shead was selected as artist in residence for the Birdsell Project’s summer season in South Bend, IN, converting the cities decommissioned hydro-electric plant into a site specific interactive sound installation. In March of 2018 Shead premiered an audio-visual performance / installation utilizing climate change data, footage of oil fracking and melting glaciers, and original music entitled ‘The Presence of Stillness’ at Slate Arts and Performance. In August of 2021 Shead presented his first solo exhibition of visual art at Birdhouse 606 in Chicago, IL. The exhibition, titled ‘In Limbo’, consisted of Shead’s painting, photography, and collage; coupled with a performance of his musical compositions.

Shead holds a Bachelors of Music in Percussion Performance from Columbia College Chicago as well as Masters of Music in Contemporary Improvisation and a Graduate Certificate in World Performance Studies from the University of Michigan.