BIOGRAPHY

A​dam Triplett was born in MCV Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. Recognized early as a “gifted” child: Adam put strange pressure on himself to stand out, prove he was smart enough to earn praise. His first love was paint and mark making, drawing came easily and strangers/loved ones alike would say there was talent. Adam completed high school in the top 10 of his class, a member of several academic societies and leadership clubs in good standing.

Artwork in the early years showed interest in techniques as they were introduced, with a separate focus on human rights and underrepresented peoples, a responsibility instilled through his strong Lutheran upbringing.

While working in a Ukrop’s grocery store and waiting tables, he completed multiple college degrees. As was his initial goal, Adam completed a BFA in Painting & Printmaking Magna cum Laude. He grew tired of the wall. Entering adulthood in the Aughts meant social media was beginning to occupy their waking lives and every person became a visually obsessed curator.

Artwork in the Undergraduate years showed a distillation of style. Still raw and emotional, critics noticed Giacometti, Joseph Beuys, Lawrence Weiner, Kaprow, Klimt, Warhol influences.

T​​he VCU Sculpture program from Virginia Commonwealth University was recognized as #1 in the nation and their critiques pushed Adam from 2D artist to a contemporary conceptual linguist. He received a second BFA from this prestigious program. Adam has studied stone carving, painting, and ceramics in Florence Italy. He pursued a minor in English Literature and graduated from the Honors College. Diverse in style as he is in media: styles have been expressionist, minimalist meditations, or classic portraiture and landscape. Media can be words or music, metal, stone, plaster, fiberglass, woodworking, painting, and 2-d media.

Professionally Adam Triplett strives to “show up”. He has managed multi-million dollar kitchens and restaurants successfully for decades. Restaurant work gave direct interaction with people. It allowed Adam to care about, and nourish others; all while learning more about what people would consider the contemporary “normal”. Early is on time, list making, and calendar adherence would always serve him professionally.

While food and people paid the bills; Adam used music and design to embrace his spirit. He was the front man for a rock band, Calpurnia, between 2004-2010. Their style could be called shoegaze punk, high-speed southern classic rock, experimental Doors-esque brood-music. He has taken lessons in guitar and piano from numerous teachers since high school. By the time the band entered their 5th year playing up and down the east coast: Adam could write his own music to go with his own words. When they hit an impasse on their sound and members wanted to get married and spend their free time outside music venues, Adam became the sole owner of the band’s mantle. He designed t-shirts, posters, album covers, and flyers for his band and others. Adam built his own stencil exposure unit, 4 color screen-press, lazy-susan dryer tables. Commissions while managing restaurants and playing music were exhausting. Every client seemed to want to keep his stencils, haggle the price. He realized everyone wanted to be in this field, making slick graphics, trying to look cool, using the cheapest print-service-providers.

Adam learned traditional print design as an undergraduate. Starting in 2012 Adam shifted from full time to part-time restaurant work. For ten years, he performed tirelessly in a small print venture, PopMount, with a national scope. The company was 7 employees when he started as an executive assistant. Ten years later, Adam co-conceived offsite designers and a cloud-based workflow. He would help grow the company to 4 times its initial print volume, reduce their error rate from 11% to 3%, employ 10+ commission-based designers across the country just for prepress work. His final title was digital production manager. Adam wrote the training manual for designers, and formed a network of independent image makers and storytellers across the country.

Music, art making, and the new/print space of his professional years gave him the experience in deadlines, order management, and digital content making. While coming out of the pandemic, Adam started making digital content for others freelance. Days could involve marketing a local fine artist, a promotion for a restaurant, the diversity of making suits his style of idea flexibility.

Mental health is a taboo topic that Adam no longer shies away from. Between 2015-2018 Adam worked with professionals in healthy relationships, anxiety, diet, physical fitness, and self worth. Artwork can address destructive paradigms of self sacrifice and self loathing pervasive in contemporary culture.

Physical health is integral to balancing disposition and seeing objectively. Adam heard warning signs in 2014: he was overweight, high cholesterol, smoking, drinking, and being generally un-coordinated, un-aware of his possibilities. A practitioner of Kung Fu with Richmond’s East-West Wing Chun since 2012, Adam became a Junior Instructor in 2015 with dedicated practice. It was 2016 when Adam entered his first martial arts competition and placed 2nd and 3rd place in sparring and combative events. By 2018 he was free of tobacco, and he had run two marathons that year.

C​​onventional education is amazing at teaching how to be an artist in the studio. It was limited, at best, for showing how to be in an art career. Especially while the entire intent and tools for art-making and art-participating continue to change and evolve. Adam interned at Art 6 to learn gallery practices in a communal practice. He was part time personal assistant for sculptor Sanford Biggers for over 10 years. Adam has shown and performed in cities up and down the east coast, from Georgia and the Carolinas to Boston. The best art business training he has received has come from the massive Art Center here in Richmond Virginia, Crossroads Art Center. Jennifer Kirby is a mentor and defender of Richmond culture.

Additionally Adam has needed to be a photographer, type layout designer, writer, performer, and web developer. Some of his favorite/transformational authors include Tom Robbins, Ray Bradbury, Ralph Ellison, Haruki Murakami, Emerson, Harville Hendrix, Marshall McLuhan, Toni Morison, Naomi Klein.

Awards & Career Highlights

awarded – Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition – “An Artistic Discovery” – top national competition for High School art students – signed Eric Cantor

awarded – first place for colored pencil work – Senior Exhibition Henrico County Scholastic Works – juror Frame Nation Staff

awarded – Junior Science and Humanities Symposium – Regional experimenter and speaker finalist for High School Scientists

awarded – National Art Honor society, National Beta Club, National Honor Society, SODA membership, Community Service member good standing

awarded – Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society for collegiate academic achievement

awarded – SCP 412 – highest possible grade for developing personal style, body of work

awarded – Phi Kappa Phi for ranking in the top percentile of class, Golden Key member in good standing

2005 – Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, “Annual Fine Arts Exhibition” Inter-discipline juried show Sandra Skurvida, juror

2005 – Lorenzo De’ Medici school of Art, Florence – Selected pieces: Independent International exhibit of Advanced painting students’ end of term thesis’

2006 – Acquisition: professional for mixed media work: “Cholera, Candlelight” Plant Zero exhibition

2006 – The Catalog 28, published by the department of Painting and Printmaking, Virginia Commonwealth University, in conjunction with “Interaction 28” – Reni Gower and Barbara Tisserat, curators

2006 – Honors Painting Calendar, published by the department of Painting and Printmaking, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2006

2006 – Acquisition: professional for diptych on panel: “Guinevere, Astrodad” Fishbowl exhibition

2006 – Virginia Commonwealth University – Sculpture Honors – Dangerous Artist Award – recognized as a cutting edge contemporary art practitioner

2007 – Hyperlink Richmond, VA, “Ripped or Huge” Permanent solo show in club/ music space

2008 – First recordings mastered and released for Calpurnia – first photoshop / digital render to be mass-produced in local markets

2008 – publication: Brickweekly Richmond culture magazine feature: Local Rockers at the Camel

2008 – All Eco production of silkscreen merch for Calpurnia’s largest release: album art corresponded to t-shirt, to posters

2008 – “True Love” – First all-silkscreened zine released to Richmond Zine Fest

2010 – “Nuts!” – large run of Richmond Squirrels themed shirts printed front, back, shoulder sleeves

2011 – Art Works, Richmond, VA – 1st Place – January All-media competition – juror, Susan Field

2013 – Maryland Institute College of Art – Acceptance into the Mount Royal School of Art Graduate Program. Deferred after investment calculations.

2013 – Collaboration with security firm for multi – site Security T-shirts

2013 – Art Works, Richmond, VA – 1st Place – All Media Competition – “Our Hedges are a Disgrace” – juror, Mim Golub Scalin and Chuck Scalin

2014 – ShockDogInk was launched as a tshirt production / web comic / blogspot / web design and commission space. Original site was made in dreamweaver / cpanel

2014 – lynda tech platform proficiency in InDesign multipage design and data manipulation, Adobe Illustrator mastery professional certifications

2016 – National Portfolio Day – Parsons School of Art – initial acceptance by Pratt Institute, MICA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

2016 – Urban Grindhouse Greensboro, NC, permanent exhibition

2017 – Pratt Institute, Maryland Institute College of Art – Acceptance into Graduate Programs. Deferred after investment calculations.

2017 – “Saint of Monument Avenue” – First graphic novella Plates printed for small zine release

2019 – Accepted and SOLD piece in Think Small, ArtSpace, Richmond, VA

2020 – rescaled entire print flow in PopMount to shift work without ending volume / successfully printed the extra million+ orders in the following years with the smallest error rating measured in company history

2020 – Acquisition for Peace Lutheran Church – Charlottesville, VA

2023 – What is a ShockDog – start of a YouTube following

2023 – What is a bloque print? – memorial artworks of loved ones mass-printed

2023 – Acceptance into Studio 23’s Winter Market – Acquisitions from general public

2023 – Hired and Approved as a Paint Instructor- Event Leader, Muse, Chatham Capital.

2025 – New Works “All That Jazz” – Crossroads Art Center Juried Show – juror: Merrily Johnstone

2025 – First podcast – Creek Feet – video and audio versions

2025 – Auction to benefit Richmond Community Legal Fund – Piece: War Bonds!

2025 – Acquisition: professional for mixed media work: “Tree, Shower Curtain” by the Frakes Foundation

ABOUT THE SITE

This website has existed for Over 10 years. Initially shockdogink.com was a platform for cartoon artwork ideas. Then it blurred into a writer’s blog and artwork portfolio page. Now it is all blurry. Copyright Adam Triplett.