Born in Toronto, Michael Adamson studied at the Emily Carr Institute of Art And Design in Vancouver, at Gesamtkunst Hochschule in Kassel, Germany and at Ryerson University in Toronto.
As Ron Moore observed, “Most striking about Adamson’s body of work is his use of color as a malleable property that is form, content and mark. His compositional strength and pervasive use of color dominates. His paintings collectively reference the atmospheres of personal experience and resonate with active states of mind resulting in a sophisticated, organized chaos.”
Adamson’s paintings have also been described as “lush, colour-saturated abstractions that reveal an overall energetic exuberance. Exploring both gesture and materiality, he builds his canvases with every brushstroke, developing the layers through definite marks, drips and scrapings. Adamson seduces the viewer with textures and layers of paint, which at times are punctuated with dots of colour.”