Isaac Abrams was born and raised in New York City.
He is a self-taught artist who started painting in 1965.
Based in Upstate New York, he continues to paint every day.
He first discovered psychedelics in 1962. He then discovered psychedelics again and again. He decided there had to be such a thing as psychedelic art and founded the Coda Gallery - the first gallery of Psychedelic Art in NYC in 1965. He had his first one man show in 1968 at Galerie Bischofberger in Zurich.
Other memorable moments include climbing a tree with Timothy Leary to discuss business, meeting Salvador Dali, shooting a film at Mickey Hart's Ranch in 1971 featuring Jerry Garcia and The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Reality One Group and David Crosby.
MEDIUMS
He’s worked across several mediums from oil to acrylic, sculpture to animation. From brushes to airbrushes, canvas to board, glass to bronze.
2020 - Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY
2019 - Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
"Works on paper from the Psychedelic era"
2018 - Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, TX, "Litmus Test - Works on paper from the Psychedelic era"
2017 Galerie Buchholz, New York, NY
"Cosmic Communities; Coming Out Into Outer Space – Homofuturism, Applied
Psyche
2020 - Outsider Art Fair, New York, NY
2019 - Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
"Works on paper from the Psychedelic era"
2018 - Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, TX, "Litmus Test - Works on paper from the Psychedelic era"
2017 Galerie Buchholz, New York, NY
"Cosmic Communities; Coming Out Into Outer Space – Homofuturism, Applied
Psychedelia & Magic Connectivity"
2017 - Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco, CA
"A History of My Dreams"
2017 - Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
"Distant Horizons – Pioneers of Psychedelic Art"
2017 - Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
"Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia"
2016 - Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit, MI
"Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia
2015 - The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN "Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia"
2013 - La Maison Rouge - Fondation Antoine de Galbert, Paris, FR, Under InFluences
2013 - Galerie Gillles Peyroulet, Paris, FR
One man show - "Drawings & Paintings"
2013 - Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, FR
"Drawing Now, exhibition of contemporary drawing"
2012 - QCC Art Gallery, New York, NY
"Visionaries"
2012 - The Society for Art of Imagination, Vienna, AT "Fantastic & Visionary Art"
2011 - Tellfair Museum, Savannah, GA
"Psychedelic: Optical and Visionary Art"
2010 - Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY "Psychedelic; Visionary and Optical Art"
2010 - San Antonio Museum, TX
"Psychedelic; Visionary and Optical Art"
2008 - Haus der Kunst, Munich, DE
"Sacred Art"
2008 - Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
"Sacred Art"
2007 - Whitney Museum, New York, NY
"Summer of Love"
2006 - Weiner Kunsthall, Vienna, AT
"Summer of Love"
2005 -Schirn Kunsthall, Frankfurt, DE
"Summer of Love"
2005 - Tate Gallery, Liverpool, UK
"Summer of Love"
2002 - Vorpal Gallery - San Francisco, CA
1984 - Kampo Cultural Center - Kyoto, Japan, New Painting NY USA-Japan Cultural Exchange
1982 - Graham Gallery , New York, NY
"New York Visionaries" New York
1982 - Space Art ,Chicago, Il
Omni Magazine Exhibition
1979 - Quantum Gallery - New York, NY
1976- Shidoni , Santa Fe, NM
Sculpture Exhibition
1976 - Dworkin Gallery
"Astral Landscapes"; one man show
1975 - Dworkin Gallery
"Visionary Art"; Group Show,
1972 - Galerie McGwire - Vienna, Austria
1971 - Whitney Museum - New York, NY Experimental video project
1971 -Tate Gallery, London, UK
"Drawing Masters of the 20th Century"
1971 - Cologne Museum, DE
"New Directions"
1970 - Galerie Bischofberger - Zurich, CH
1969 - Easthampton Gallery - New York, NY
1968 - Galerie Bischofberger - Zurich, CH
1967 - Easthampton Gallery - New York, NY
1965- First show of Psychedelic Art in the world - CODA Gallery, NYC (Owned by Isaac Abrams)
1968 - Psychedelic Art, Masters and Houston, Grove Press
1968 - History of Modern Art, H.H. Arnason, Harry N. Abrams Publishers, New York, NY
1969 - Art Through the Ages, 6th Edition, De LaCroix & Tansey, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
1969 - The Avant-Garde in Modern Painting, Germain Bazin, Simon & Schuster
1975 - Hallucinations; behavio
1968 - Psychedelic Art, Masters and Houston, Grove Press
1968 - History of Modern Art, H.H. Arnason, Harry N. Abrams Publishers, New York, NY
1969 - Art Through the Ages, 6th Edition, De LaCroix & Tansey, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
1969 - The Avant-Garde in Modern Painting, Germain Bazin, Simon & Schuster
1975 - Hallucinations; behavior, experience and theory, R.K. Siegel and L.J. West, John Wiley & Sons Inc, Hoboken, NJ
1976/1978/1980 - Mind Magic, Bill Harvey, Studio 31, Irvington Publishers, New York
1980 - Art Through the Ages, Louise Gardner, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc, New York
2000 - Drinking Lightning; art, creativity and transformation, Philip Rubinov-Jacobson, Marja Publications, Dallas, Texas
2004 - Whitney Biennial Catalogue, Chrissie Iles, Curatorial Essay, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
2005 - Summer of Love, Art of the Psychedelic Era, Tate Publishing, London
2006 - Arte Firenze, Fortezza da Basso, Italy
2008 - Traces Du Sacre, The Sacred in Art, Publication of the Centre Pompidou
2008 - Spaced Out; Radical Environments of the Psychedelic Sixties, Alastair Gordon, Rizzoli International, New York
2010 - Psychedelic Optical and Visionary Art, David Rubin, San Antonio Museum of Art, MIT Press, Cambridge MA
2011 - Mystic Chemist; the life of Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, Synergetic Press, Santa Fe, NM
2011 - Are you Experienced; how psychedelic consciousness transformed modern art, Prestel Publishing, Munich, DE
2011 - Albert Hofman und sein LSD, 2Dieter Hagenbach, Lucius Werthmuller, AT Verlag, Aarau, Munchen, DE
2012 - Society for Art of Imagination, Phantasten Museum, Wien, AT
2012 - Visionaries; the art of the fantastic, QCC Art Gallery, City University of New York, NY
2013 - Drawing Now, 7th Edition, Carrousel Du Louvre, Paris
2015 - Hippie Moderism; the struggle for utopia, Andrew Blauvelt, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
2018 - Limus Test; works on paper from the Psychedelic Era, Carlo McCormick & Josef Zimmerman, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
1998-2002 - Rave Works - Free form animations, long form animations in multi-screen formats NYC
1997 - Space Journey - 4 minute animation for 2nd largest Kaleidoscope in world
1997 - Spring (Metamorphosis) - 12 minute computer animation for the Worlds Largest Kaleidoscope
1996 - Peace on Earth - 10 minute computer animation for the W
1998-2002 - Rave Works - Free form animations, long form animations in multi-screen formats NYC
1997 - Space Journey - 4 minute animation for 2nd largest Kaleidoscope in world
1997 - Spring (Metamorphosis) - 12 minute computer animation for the Worlds Largest Kaleidoscope
1996 - Peace on Earth - 10 minute computer animation for the Worlds Largest Kaleidoscope
1995 - World's Largest Kaleidoscope - Designed and created World's Largest Kaleidoscope - 60 foot high with 10 minute animation
1995 - Universal Theme Park Project - stop motion animation for Douglas Trumbull, creator of 2001; sculptor designer of major set for the BACK TO THE FUTURE RIDE
1989 - Surprise Symphony - Hayden Animation for use in the field of Musical Education; animator & Producer
1988 - Animation The Top 15 of 1750 - Baroque Studies in Motion
1987 - ATV - Experimental Ambient Video Project, one hour animation
1986 - Corporate Commission - Merrill Lynch
1985 - The Allegro from Spring Vivaldi The Four Seasons - Winner of The Culture, Science & Hobbies Award of the International Software Fair - Audio Visual Age Show, Tokyo
1985 - Spyra Gyra - Music Video animation
1984 - Oregon Suite - 30 minute video using abstract animation transferred from film, edited to the music of the Jazz Group Oregon, This work toured Japan as a USA Japan Cultural Exchange. Broadcast on NYC TV
1983 - Polyphrenia – 15-minute animation shown at Studio 54, and AIR Gallery
1982 - Pyramid Man – 15-minute animation shown at Studio 54, and AIR Gallery
1971 - Experimental Video Project - Whitney Museum, NY
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