Derrick Adams’ Style Variation 4 (Side Part) (2022) is a powerful meditation on identity, beauty, and the artistry of self-presentation. Part of his acclaimed Style Variations series, the work transforms the familiar salon bust into a monument of cultural pride and individuality. The portrait depicts a stylized female figure with a dramatic, voluminous side-parted hairstyle — a sculptural wave of deep blacks and grays that frames her face like a crown. Executed in Adams’ signature geometric style, the work fuses elegance with abstraction, transforming the language of beauty culture into a visual symphony of shape, color, and form.

The composition is defined by Adams’ hallmark use of faceted planes — angular segments of browns, ochres, and mauves that construct the face and neck like facets of a gemstone. This patchwork of color creates depth and complexity, suggesting that identity is never singular but layered and multifaceted. The bold interplay of light and dark tones evokes both Cubist structure and African sculptural tradition, filtered through the crisp clarity of Pop Art. Against a stark white background, the figure’s confident gaze and poised symmetry command attention, elevating a moment of everyday beauty into the realm of timeless portraiture.

The “side part” hairstyle, rendered here with sweeping volume and graphic simplicity, is emblematic of refinement and control — a gesture of self-styling that communicates confidence and self-respect. For Adams, such choices are never superficial: they are acts of self-determination. By immortalizing hairstyles common in Black beauty culture, he asserts their aesthetic and cultural significance, transforming them from salon trends into visual symbols of empowerment.

Like others in the Style Variations series, this portrait references the mannequin heads used in salons and barbershops — objects of both training and display. Adams reimagines these familiar forms as icons of modern identity. The mannequin, often seen as anonymous or utilitarian, becomes here a subject of individuality and reverence. Through abstraction, Adams gives life to these inanimate figures, allowing them to embody the spirit of creativity, community, and craftsmanship found in spaces of Black self-care.

The precision of Style Variation 4 (Side Part) also reflects Adams’ deep engagement with design as a language of self-construction. The clean geometry and controlled palette speak to the discipline behind artistry — echoing the structured rhythm of pattern-making, architecture, and even music. The glossy blacks of the hair suggest both weight and movement, a sculptural mass that grounds the figure in space while conveying a sense of luxury and elegance.

Adams’ broader practice consistently reclaims visual space for depictions of Black joy, leisure, and style — subjects historically underrepresented in art. Rather than framing Black identity through hardship or resistance alone, he highlights the everyday beauty and creativity that define cultural life. In Style Variation 4 (Side Part), this manifests as serenity and strength: a celebration of the confidence that comes from self-expression.

Ultimately, Style Variation 4 (Side Part) is a portrait of empowerment. It honors the ritual of hair styling as an art form, a cultural language, and a declaration of selfhood. Through sharp geometry, restrained color, and commanding simplicity, Derrick Adams creates an image that is both intimate and iconic — a testament to the transformative power of style and the enduring beauty of individuality.

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