"Jesus Portraits" explores notions of the perception and representation of the historical figure of Jesus Christ. I found the "biblical wig and beard" used in the portraits at a local costume shop, and was amazed by how readily people identified it specifically as a Jesus costume. The disguise immediately conjures up iconic images of Jesus as proliferated in America in the 20th and 21st century. My project plays with this common awareness, re-imagining everyday people as the Christ, to explore the ideas of how religion, Christianity and Jesus Christ are perceived. Participants in the photographs wear the wig and beard and pose, in plain clothes, either in front of a blank white backdrop or in an environment particular to the individual.
Wayne Adams is a Brooklyn based painter and photographer who received his B.F.A. from Calvin College and M.F.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in 2000. Adams has exhibited throughout the Midwest, New York and Vienna, Austria. Recent shows include, "Really?" New York Center for Art and Media Studies, NYC (2007); Pole Position, Brooklyn, NY (2006); "Select III" WPAC, Corcoran, Washington, DC (2004); and “NY-Wien” Art Position Gallery, Vienna, Austria (2004).

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