At JD Malat Gallery — one of Downtown Dubai’s leading spaces for contemporary art — the familiar face of a music legend appears in a new light. Bryan Adams — adored across generations for his music — unveils his first Middle East exhibition, #SHOTBYADAMS, a bold photographic series that refracts celebrity and identity through sheets of colored plexiglass.
The project began with a simple idea: “seeing through rose-tinted glasses.” Adams literalized the phrase, sliding tinted plexiglass between camera and subject, turning his lens into both mirror and prism. The result is portraits that shimmer between clarity and distortion, offering viewers a dreamlike encounter with icons such as Amy Winehouse, Kate Moss, and Mick Jagger. Familiar yet estranged, their faces dissolve into washes of magenta, cyan, and amber, asking us to rethink how fame — and the images that sustain it — are consumed.
“It’s about perception, distortion, and the beauty of seeing differently,” Adams explains. The series becomes less about the celebrity before the camera, and more about the gaze of the viewer, who must navigate layers of color and meaning.
The works extend a career that has quietly grown in parallel to Adams’ music. Twice awarded the German Lead Award, his portraits of figures from Mickey Rourke to Queen Elizabeth II have become part of the visual memory of our time, appearing in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and the National Portrait Gallery in London.
For Jean-David Malat, founder of JD Malat Gallery, #SHOTBYADAMS captures the spirit of Dubai’s art scene: bold, international, and unafraid of experiment. “This marks a compelling chapter in Bryan’s photographic practice,” he notes, “exploring distortion, materiality, and the shifting nature of the image.”
By hosting Adams’ debut Middle East exhibition, JD Malat Gallery also reinforces its role as a cultural bridge — bringing global names into dialogue with Dubai’s vibrant creative landscape.
Exhibition details
📅 2–30 September 2025
📍 JD Malat Gallery, Act 2 Tower, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Blvd, Downtown Dubai
⏰ Daily, 10am–10pm
