The Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery was founded in March of 2003 on the conviction that the time was ripe for a gallery devoted to hip-hop imagery. Hip-hop culture is now 30 years old. It's bigger and more influential than ever before. It's also popular all over the world. That combination of depth, reach, and ongoing vitality sustains eyejammie.

Hip-Hop's ceaseless production of lavish and eyepopping imagery has always been a large part of its appeal. Indeed, the culture's great stars - so vivid, passionate, and original -- are a photographer's dream. There's hardly ever been a photo of Flavor Flav, Snoop Dogg or Queen Latifah that wasn't iconic. Eyejammie will demonstrate that hip-hop heads feel about these photos the way that baby boomers feel about flicks of Mick Jagger or Aretha Franklin, and how even older folks feel about portraits of Armstrong, Ellington, and Miles Davis.

The gallery is also on a mission to demonstrate to people who aren't hip-hop heads but who do care about art photography that the purely aesthetic qualities of many of these images is world-class.

Indeed, there are any number of talented young artists working in media other than photography who are deeply hip-hop-influenced. As time goes on, Eyejammie may well become a showcase for their work as well.

Bill Adler

The Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery was founded by Bill Adler. Bill first got involved in rap and hip-hop as a journalist in 1980. When Russell Simmons hired him as Director of Publicity for Rush Artist Management and Def Jam Recordings in 1984, Bill became Russell’s second full-time employee. During the next six years he worked with Kurtis Blow, Whodini, Run-DMC, Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Slick Rick,Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, Stetsasonic, De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, 3rd Bass, and others.

In January of 1987 Bill took a brief leave of absence from Def Jam to write "Tougher Than Leather: The Authorized Biography of Run-DMC" (New American Library), which has now been reissued as “Tougher Than
Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC.” In 1991 he wrote the text for "Rap: Portraits and Lyrics of a Generation of Black Rockers" (St. Martin's Press), which featured the wonderful photos of Janette Beckman.

During 1991 Bill was Vice President/Media Relations for Island Records, working with PM Dawn, X-Clan, the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, the Dream Warriors, and the Stereo MCs. He also conceived of the Anthrax/Public Enemy "Bring the Noize" tour. In 1992 he formed Rhyme & Reason Media, a public relations firm. During the next three years his clients included Amnesty International, Ornette Coleman, Jayne Cortez, Bootsy Collins, Arrested Development, Slick Rick, Onyx, Paris, Spearhead, and others.

In 1994 Bill co-founded NuYo Records, a record label devoted to the spoken word, distributed by BMG. This venture was revived in 1996 as Mouth Almighty Records under the auspices of Mercury/Polygram. Over the course of the next three years the label released 18 titles, including recordings by the Last Poets, Allen Ginsberg, and Sekou Sundiata.

Between 1998 and 2000 Bill consulted Seattle's Experience Music Project during the conception and building of their hiphop exhibit, which opened to the public in the summer of 2000.

Bill opened Eyejammie in the spring of 2003. During the last three years he has curated or co-curated one-man shows showcasing the work of the painters Jackson Brown and Sacha Jenkins and the photographers Michael Benabib, Al Pereira, Ricky Powell, and Ernie Paniccioli, as well as group shows celebrating Run-DMC, women in hiphop, dancehall reggae, and southern hiphop.

In the fall of 2004 Bill chalked up a credit as the producer/writer of "And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of HipHop," a five-part documentary film series that aired on VH1. In February of 2006 Bill consulted the Smithsonian Institution on the establishment of its hip-hop collection. In March of 2006 Bill began teaching a course on the history of Def Jam at New York University.

"Hip-hop music gets all the love in the world, but hiphop as a visual art tends to get overlooked," he says. "I founded Eyejammie to do what I could to correct that imbalance."