Ada Friedman

b. 1984 Washington, D.C., USA
Lives and works in the Texas Hill Country & Brooklyn, NY, USA

Ada Friedman's art is rooted in paint, routine, and ritual. Her paintings exist in different fields of action and poetry; of varying spaces of concreteness, collaboration, and interiority. Works are typically double-sided; each side contains a painting unto itself which combines with its verso into a multifaceted whole. Moved by the artist's holistic drive to conjure worlds, her approach to the medium transforms paper — her prima materia — and discreet collections of idiosyncratic materials into symphonic accord for adventurous, graceful paintings.

She has recently been awarded the Grant Wood fellowship and a Visiting Professorship in Painting and Drawing at the University of Iowa (2025–26), and was appointed Visiting Artist in Painting and Drawing at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2021–22).

Friedman has participated in institutional exhibitions at Kunsthalle Zürich (Zürich, Switzerland); University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, USA); Knoxville Museum of Art (Knoxville, USA); The University of Tennessee Downtown Gallery (Knoxville, USA), including a solo exhibition at the Ana Mendieta Gallery at the University of Iowa (Iowa City, USA).

She has had solo exhibitions at Kendra Jayne Patrick (Bern, Switzerland); David Peter Francis (New York City, USA); Tri-Star Arts (Tennessee, USA); Grifter (New York City, USA); 17 Essex, and Eli Ping (New York City, USA). She has been included in group exhibitions at Thomas Erben Gallery (New York City, USA); Shore Gallery (Vienna, Austria); Nature of Things (Dallas, USA); Cleopatra's (Brooklyn, USA); Safe Gallery (Brooklyn, USA); Ortega y Gasset (Brooklyn, USA); White Columns (New York City, USA); Night Gallery (Los Angeles, USA); the ; and Accent Sisters (New York City, USA, among others. She exhibited a solo presentation at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2023, an acclaimed two-person presentation at Independent 2025, and was featured in The Living Room, a special curated selection at Art Genève 2023.

Friedman’s first monograph, Star, was published by Hassla Books, New York, in 2026. Her artist book, Drawing Hilma Af Klint, made in collaboration with artists Ariel Dill and Denise Schatz, was published by Miniature Garden (2014; second edition 2019). Her work has been featured in BOMB magazine, Brooklyn Rail, Family Time, ARTnews, Hyperallergic, Painter's Bread, BMore Art, Tussle, Ora Art Reviews, and more. In 2025, she founded Echo Arts, an artist residency in the Texas Hill Country.


CURRICULUM  VITAE.    SELECT PRESS.

FORTHCOMING: 

No-Man’s-Land, Knoxville Museum of Art,  August 13 – November 8, 2026