Adam Tarif

Adam Tarif is a painter whose work centres on interiors, objects and the relationship between art and everyday space. His compositions often stage familiar elements: furniture, plants, textiles and decorative objects into tightly constructed scenes that feel both deliberate and slightly offbeat.
Working with bold colour, flattened perspective and strong pattern, Tarif builds images that sit somewhere between still life and interior portrait. Surfaces are highly stylised, with graphic linework and repeating motifs that emphasise design as much as subject. Within these spaces, objects are treated with the same attention as figures, giving the work a sense of balance between the human presence and the environments we construct around ourselves.
Art history appears directly within the paintings, with works like May Blossom on the Roman Road by David Hockney and The Dance by Henri Matisse placed inside the scenes. These references introduce movement and depth, Hockney’s winding landscape or Matisse’s circling figures, set against the stillness of the interior. The result is a tension between inside and outside, motion and pause, decoration and narrative.
Influences from fashion and interior design are evident in the attention to texture, colour pairing and arrangement. Cowhide upholstery, patterned ceramics and saturated walls are not just details but structural elements within the composition. The paintings lean into a playful, almost theatrical sensibility, where scale is exaggerated and objects feel slightly heightened or performative.
Alongside his studio practice, Tarif created Finders Keepers, an ongoing project that places original works in public settings for people to encounter and take. This extends his interest in how art moves through everyday environments and how it is experienced outside traditional gallery spaces.