Following on from The Island Souls of the Seychelles book the publisher and Studio Ageli practice principal Mohammed Ageli were eager to get going on the second book which was to be Michael’s magnum opus, a monograph of all original works still in his possession.
- To their credit, the Adams family entrusted Mohammed and his team with all the originals over a 3 week period where they were carefully photographed and studied. In parallel to this, Michael was interviewed over a week or so by journalist Tim Ecott, known for his work with the BBC on ‘From Our Own Correspondent’.
- It took some 12 months for the book to come to fruition which was nothing short of a labour of love for everyone involved. Endless review and meticulous attention to detail make the colours and textures everywhere you look in this book sumptuous, jumping off the paper. It simply dazzles, even from a distance in a book shelf or on a coffee table, it is a sheer joy.
- The challenge was how to order and connect over 400 paintings and make the book feel cohesive – after several failed attempts with standard methods of cataloging work the team adopted Michael’s approach which was to feel our way through it and it worked! There is no narrative, formula or affectation in the book, it is simply laid out as a gorgeous collection of images with suggested but not forced interactions between them.
- We are hoping for another instalment of the Michael’s Adams book collection and look forward to seeing more work from the maestro himself.
