Inspiring Conversations with Adam Gross of ADLAR

Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Gross.

Adam, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I work in the arts. I make things with artists… prints, mostly. Well, prints+ really… prints plus augmented reality. It’s quite cool, actually… and here’s how I got here: As a native Angeleno, I’ve marveled at the growth and vitality of my city. Los Angeles has certainly evolved and I’m proud to live in is indisputably one of the most creative cities on the planet. I was raised in the LA of the 1970s… an idyllic period. LA still felt provincial… like a series of small towns bound together in a megalopolis. Ironically, that provincial feeling is what sent me packing.

After graduating from UCLA, I lived in NYC and Europe for a few years… only to find myself back in LA one December for the holidays. The Disney Concert Hall was in the works and it felt like something had shifted. (Rollerblading on the beach on Xmas Eve also helped me decide to stay… as I was living in COLD Paris at the time.)
My first art world gig was running a gallery in LA. Then, back to UCLA for my Master in Art History. Then to auctions in the late 1990s (both fine art AND online… when Butterfield’s – now Bonhams – was briefly owned by eBay) and private dealing post-9.11. During this period, I was also volunteering my time with artists and founded a non-profit arts organization in DTLA. (Yeah, it was still pretty scary back then…)

Next up development at MOCA… raising funds and creating community. What a great experience! I learned so much and met so many great people. After helping shepherd MOCA through an existential fiscal crisis, I left to develop an art fair for LA. Art Platform–Los Angeles with The Armory Show NY. Launched in 2013 in partnership with the Getty’s massive first Pacific Standard Time initiative. Now that was a party!

After a few years in the art fair grind, I had enough… and had missed too many of my son’s birthdays, science fairs, etc. (The international fair schedule can be a grind… “What? It’s June? I must be in Switzerland…”)

From art fairs, I transitioned into fine art editions running The Lapis Press. I had been creating editions for years already, but now I was at it full-time. It was here that the joys of creation and working with artists were made clear for me. I was in it and I loved it. After six years at Lapis (and having just turned 50), it was time for a change. I took a hiatus to reflect… and somehow ended up opening a gallery. (It isn’t that much of a mystery: I had babysat a friend’s gallery, started making some sales… and next thing I knew, I had my own small project space in Hollywood, SPACE 1028.) Opening in February 2020, my timing couldn’t have been better. SLAM… the COVID lockdown started weeks later.

For the next few years, I was working with private clients and mounting exhibitions (that no one could visit)… all while developing with a business partner my latest venture: ADLAR. We work with contemporary artists to create and publish print editions that trigger an amazing augmented reality experience. Our latest new initiative is working with Marilyn Minter to create filters to raise funds for Women’s Healthcare and Planned Parenthood.

It feels great to create… and give back.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Smooth road? Are you kidding me? Let’s see:
Hmmm… COVID was a major one.
Hitting 50 and needing to take a beat… another one.
Getting laid off after 9.11 with a wife who was six months pregnant? Fun.
The near-death of my beloved MOCA while I was working there? Also a blast.
Then there were all the health and interpersonal challenges that inevitably crop up.

So I took care of business.

But hey, these challenges are part of what made me who I am. And they are only struggles if I think of them that way… I prefer to call them challenges.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
ADLAR makes fine art come to life. ADLAR was founded by Adam Gross (AD) and Larry W. Jones (LAR) to explore the intersection of fine art and augmented reality (AR). We publish limited edition prints that trigger a bespoke AR experience. To our knowledge, there’s no one publishing and creating quite the way we do.

We partner with cutting-edge artists and engage industry-leading professionals to realize our projects. Our prints are created by the best talent available – each project dictating which print technique (and printer) employed. This is very much how we approach AR, but in this case, we can tap the vast resources of Hollywood by engaging technologists and VFX pros from the major studios. (Working with ADLAR is like a palette cleanser after working on Avatar all day!)

At ADLAR, we shorten the distance between artist and viewer. If you, the viewer would like to passively enjoy a work of art… go for it! If, however, you want a deeper engagement… if you’re curious about what else the artist would conceive for that moment captured in print… just open the ADLAR app and scan one of our prints.

Perhaps most importantly, we extend the engagement between artist and viewer… allowing artists to have a much longer dialogue with the viewer… YOU!

www.ADLARstudio.com
@ADLARstuido

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Hmmm… like my beard grows in stark white? Or, maybe you’re looking more for:
ADLAR is named after me, ADam, and my partner, LARry. (We are NOT the creatives here…) ADLAR was conceived and planned during COVID.

Our LA studio is housed in a historic 1920s Hollywood courtyard building.

We are a pro-social organization on the lookout for ways we can leverage fine art in support of broader more social initiatives.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ADLARstudio.com
• Instagram: @ADLARstudio
• Facebook: ADLAR AR

Image Credits
Adam Gross Cressandra Thibodeaux