Derrick Adams: Parlay 3

Derrick Adams’s Parlay 3 (2024) is one of four prints published by Tandem Press in Madison, Wisconsin, related to the artist’s Mood Board series (2017–21), which reflects on the legacy of the late Black fashion designer Patrick Kelly. While conducting research on Kelly at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Adams was inspired by a printed dice pattern Kelly used for a line of women’s clothing. The term “parlay” refers to wagering previous winnings while gambling (and the homophone “parley” can describe a leisurely chat among friends, iconography commonly used in Adams’s practice). Using collaged screen print and archival inkjet print elements, the work features a zipper that dynamically divides the composition to suggest both a sewing pattern and a figure wearing a dress.