Having been an outcast throughout most of his life, Adi Khavous also known as Adida Fallen Angel found in art and music a refuge where he truly belongs.
Born in Israel, Adida is an adventurous and insatiable character. Terrified of routine and normality, he has an incredible longing to explore the world and all its different facets. Only 37 years old, he has been traveling for the past 15 years, spending some time in Brazil, New York, San-Diego, Rotterdam, Berlin, Paris and has now chosen Montreal to be his new home.
After studying multimedia production in Rotterdam, he spent most of his years working in the graphic and Visual department in collaboration with different galleries and went on to create his own company of multimedia production called EASYDAY LABZ.
His acute curiosity also translates in the art he performs. Exceptionally diverse, he is a multi-faceted artist. He went from doing classical art and sketching to exploring photography, videography, graphic design and street art and is now getting involved in music.
Rejected by his high-school peers for being different, Adida sought to find people from different communities that could truly understand him. He met with a group of outsiders from his school and joined the skate community, which inspired his growing interests in art and music. “In the skate community I found my kind of people, they had punk, metal and graffiti. I connected to that immediately and it grew from there,” explained Adida.
Tall, slender and with little hair on his head, Adida very much lives like a poète maudit. As a struggling artist, he is faced with many challenges in everyday life. Always wondering how he will be able to pay this month’s rent or if there will be food on the table, he explains that this edgy lifestyle pushes him towards the discovery of new boundaries in his art and forces him to find the energy and strength to surpass himself in everything he does.
“When you push somebody to the corner they usually fight back. Maybe I intentionally push myself to corners to have this energy because that’s where I fight the best.” said Adida.
With very little means, he worked on a project entitled “My faded memoirs & the power of one” for Fresh Paint gallery in Montreal last summer. For this project, the gallery provided him with an empty space where he was free to do whatever he wanted. He created an incredible installation that took him over 150 hours to make in which he used, amongst other things, 13 books found in the garbage, 20 liters of homemade glue and 500 meters of fishing string. In his own words, he explains the concept of the installation being that “My Faded Memoirs & The Power of One” is truly about the power of inspiration, the power of one soul and it’s driving passion to produce something meaningful and the ability to connect to the rest of the universe, hoping that the piece will ripple widely and deeply into the spirits around it and perhaps show a common awareness to something that is bigger than all of us and maybe the source of everything valuable.”
Anna Lajuana, friends with Adida and employee at Fresh Paint gallery underlined his hard-working and perfectionist personality. “Working with him was mad! We basically never saw him. He would only come out late at night. We had to force him to stop working” said Anna.
His creations also demonstrate the strong spirituality that inhabits his way of life. Indeed, there’s a good reason why he chose the name Adida Fallen Angel to encapsulate his character. He strongly believes that art involves strong and profound spirituality. His music and artistic creations are a way of connecting with God on a certain level. He believes the artist is one of God’s instruments and strives to become an inspirational source for others. Having found great guidance in music throughout his life, he wishes his own music will be able to have a similar impact. “Since an early age, I was addicted to music. It gave me answers that my teachers couldn’t give me, my parents couldn’t give me and the louder and stronger it was, the more I was able to relate to it and express myself.” he said.
Adida and his band Spoonlicker are releasing their début album early spring 2013. In their song “concept”, the notion of rebellion is deeply embedded in the lyrics. Coming from a graphic and advertising world that involves public space, Adida made it clear that he wrote about the things he sees and doesn’t agree with in the art and music industry; about artists “selling their soul”. He adopts a strong stance in his perception of how music and art should be used.
With his career taking off, Adida is at a key point in his life but won’t be selling his soul any time soon. He continues to be involved in a vast variety of projects and keeps regular updates about his band and his artworks on his website and all over the virtual social network which he dearly enjoys.
~ Written by June Loper.
Exhibitions:
2013
‘The Board Meeting – Group Sk8xhibition – Green Light Gallery – Montreal, Canada.
2012
Local Testimony – Video Installation - World Press Photo Exhibition 2012 – Israel Museum , Tel Aviv.
No name – Group Exhibition – U106 Space – Montreal, Canada.
Unfulfilled Joy Show – Duo Exhibition with Danny Guay – Cabaret Underworld- Montreal, Canada.
My Faded Memoirs – Installation at a Group Exhibition – Fresh Paint Gallery – Montreal, Canada.
2011
Art Thy Neighbor- Group Exhibition - The Neighbor – Tel-Aviv, Israel.
2010
Art Forever - Group Exhibition - Rosenthalis house, Jaffa-Tel-Aviv, Israel.
2009
Deaf By Secrets - Group Exhibition – Ici Par Les Arts - Saint Jerome, Quebec, Canada.
2007
Theory of All – Group Exhibition - DEK-22 Art Space – Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
2006
Built to Expose – Group Sk8xhibition - Shipwreck Tattoos & Art Space – Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
2005
R’daMade – Group Exhibition - The Polish Art Gallery – Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
2004
Easyday Labz – Group Exhibition – Off-Corso Club, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
2002
CatFight - Curator of Grope Exhibition – Mama Showroom - Rotterdam, The Netherlands.