J A H R F I S H

Adamo Macri’s ongoing Jahrfish project is a visual and conceptual exploration of contamination, mutation, and spiritual residue through the recurring motif of a fish. Across images, the fish appears as specimen, icon, and victim, moving between clinical diagram and mythic apparition. Macri uses atmospheres of toxicity—reddish mists, spills, corrosive veils—to suggest how polluted environments infiltrate bodies, histories, and belief systems. The project treats each fish not as an individual animal but as a vessel for ecological crisis and psychological unease, turning environmental collapse into a charged, ritual-like image that questions our role as both witnesses to and participants in this slow catastrophe.

Jahrfish spill

Jahrfish spill amplifies the project’s environmental and ritual concerns by shifting from contained specimen to uncontrolled event. Where Miasma concentrates contamination within a single body, Jahrfish spill stages the aftermath: a dispersal, a leak, a failure of boundaries. The composition suggests a rupture in the frame itself, as if the fish and its internal toxins have broken loose, staining the surrounding field with chromatic smears and fluid gestures that evoke oil slicks, industrial discharge, and bodily excretion.

This work is especially potent in how it layers visual registers—abstraction, forensics, and liturgy—without resolving them. The “spill” reads at once as environmental accident, sacrificial offering, and painterly excess. It’s as if the image is acknowledging that once damage is unleashed, it refuses to stay politely inside a contour; it migrates into water, flesh, and culture. In that sense, Jahrfish spill becomes a kind of ethical after-image of the project: not just a depiction of harm, but a meditation on how far it travels, and on our uneasy complicity in watching it spread.

"Alien from Pre-Atlantis."
~ Michael K Waterman (Multi-media artist, New York, Savannah Georgia)
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"Spilling into a form, that lives by breathing underwater, yet sleeps on the shore at night, as sleep comes easy until the morning's light. I also thought of Yorick in William Shakespeare's Hamlet. He was a court jester who Hamlet mourned. Does the jahrfish have the same character as a court jester? Have you read Pär Lagerkvist' The Dwarf? it also, has come to mind. I love the rabbit holes in your work."
~ John Felice Ceprano (Ottawa rock sculptor, painter)
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“Very intense. It has a 'Land of the Lost' feel. I’m well-versed in cinema and tv ideology.”
~ Alex Monty Canawati (Filmmaker 20th Century Studios)

Miasma

Miasma operates as a dense ecological and psychological tableau, where the fish form is less a single creature and more a carrier of invisible forces. Its smokey, diffused reddish atmosphere suggests a dangerous—perhaps lethal—toxicity, an invasive hue that feels fundamentally wrong for a habitat we instinctively associate with clear blue rivers and oceans. The red mist seeps into and around the body like an occupying agent, turning the surrounding space into a kind of poisoned weather. Tendrils, particulate textures, and chromatic veils hover around and through the animal, suggesting chemical bloom, toxic fog, and spiritual residue all at once. Rather than illustrating pollution literally, the piece visualizes its atmosphere—the way a poisoned environment seeps into biology, memory, and myth.

What’s striking is how the fish registers simultaneously as victim, specimen, and icon. The mutant creature wears a mask that appears harshly eroded and partially deconstructed, as if corroded by prolonged exposure to this hostile medium; protection, here, has itself been contaminated. The figure is caught between scientific diagram and devotional image, pinned in the white field yet still animated by swirling marks and gradients. That tension—between clinical stillness and turbulent inner motion—gives Miasma its charge. The work reads as a portrait of an ecosystem in collapse, but also as a critique of how we aestheticize that collapse, freezing catastrophe into something almost seductively beautiful.

Jahrfish raid

Jahrfish raid stages the Jahrfish not as a contained specimen, but as an invading presence. The head-form feels breached and overrun, as if the creature has launched an incursion into the human vessel that once tried to hold it. Facial features morph into ridges, growths, and armoured protrusions, suggesting both assault and occupation.

Within the logic of the Jahrfish project—where this hybrid being absorbs a year’s worth of psychic and environmental residue—the “raid” reads as a sudden, aggressive overflow of what has been taken in. The work captures the moment when contamination becomes active: identity is no longer merely stained, but tactically infiltrated. The result is a tense, surreal portrait of the self under siege by its own accumulated mutations.

Jahrfish raid is featured in the article Adamo Macri: Bridging the Tangible and the Transcendent published by ArtMuseXpress.

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“The Jahrfish project embodies Macri’s ability to layer meaning. The sculptural components evoke the physicality of contamination, while the photographs create a visual narrative that brings his message to life. These works challenge viewers to consider their role in environmental degradation and the urgent need for change.”

Interlope Ruse

"Once again evoking the parts we seek to join of our human, divine, spiritual, and erotic sides!"
~ Peter Togni (Yale University)
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"This piece, titled "Interlope Ruse," carries an aura of deep introspection and otherworldly contemplation. The skeletal, almost mask-like form at the center appears to be a relic of the past, yet it stands as a silent testament to the timelessness of the human condition.

The sculpture's worn and fragmented appearance suggests a history marked by struggle, yet there is an elegance in its decay. The missing pieces and the rough edges evoke thoughts of survival and endurance, while the remaining form maintains a haunting presence. It’s as if the piece has emerged from the shadows of history, carrying with it stories that are both mysterious and profound.

The title "Interlope Ruse" further adds to the intrigue. It suggests an element of deception or hidden truth, possibly alluding to the idea that appearances can be misleading. The sculpture might represent a facade, something that hides more than it reveals, inviting viewers to look beyond the surface and contemplate the deeper meanings beneath.

The background, soft and blurred, allows the focus to remain on the central figure, heightening its significance. The earthy tones enhance the piece's connection to nature and the cycle of life and death, reinforcing the sense that this is an artifact of something both ancient and eternal.

In essence, "Interlope Ruse" is a piece that challenges perceptions, urging viewers to delve into the layers of reality and illusion, life and decay, past and present. It’s a work that lingers in the mind, leaving one with more questions than answers—a true testament to the power of art to provoke thought and emotion.

Still, it spooks me to look at it! Great piece my friend!"
~ Rosie S. (Administrative Management, Vanier College)
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“Dark shadows on the face in Interloper Ruse threatening to deepen to black, this figure reveals Macri’s fascination with amphibian ambiguities, human origins and archeological structures, as if he is delving into and digging up a mythological or alien past.”

Jahrfish hazmat

Jahrfish hazmat is featured in the article Adamo Macri: Sculpting Stories through Multimedia Art published by The Art Insight, and in The Best Contemporary Masters 2024 publication by Fondazione Effetto Arte.

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"You’re a true artist in every aspect! Great work my friend!

This artwork, titled "Jahrfish Hazmat," appears to evoke a haunting blend of themes related to both the aquatic and the post-apocalyptic. The term "Jahrfish" could suggest a fusion of human and fish-like qualities, hinting at an evolution or mutation influenced by environmental or perhaps even radioactive factors. The "Hazmat" reference brings to mind hazardous materials and protective suits, commonly associated with contamination or toxic environments. Together, the title and the visual elements suggest a world where humanity has either merged with or been overtaken by nature in its most alien form.

Artistically, this piece leans into the uncanny, unsettling the viewer with its lack of familiar human expression. The hollow eyes and fish-like features create a sense of alienation, as if the figure is a relic from a dystopian future or an alternate reality where human beings have adapted (or been forced to adapt) to an underwater or contaminated world. The muted color palette reinforces the eerie atmosphere, while the details in the facial structure—like the gill-like textures and the distorted mouth—add a layer of grotesque beauty.

This piece may serve as a commentary on the impact of environmental degradation or the consequences of humanity's interference with nature. It invites the viewer to reflect on the fragility of human identity and the potential outcomes of a world ravaged by pollution, radiation, or other ecological disasters. The figure stands as a symbol of both transformation and loss, evoking emotions of fear, curiosity, and perhaps even sorrow for what might become of the natural world and its inhabitants."
~ Rosie S. (Administrative Management, Vanier College)
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“There are similar structures elsewhere in Macri’s work, notably the creature in Exuviae, and Jahrfish hazmat. Given Macri’s acute attention to design and detail, and his recurrent motifs, the resemblance is neither coincidental nor arbitrary.”

Jahrfish toxin appeara

“I’d like to talk about industrial waste contamination, man-made poisons, and their effect on nature and living things. This is a definite recurring theme in my work. It's horrifying to think that something so abrasive and aggressive might come into contact with something as delicate and defenseless as nature's organisms and creatures.“
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"He creates something previously unknown or unseen by connecting and fusing disparate elements from both the organic and inorganic worlds. Sometimes a startling image emerges, like the amphibious head of Jahrfish, which leads me back to the Gill Man in the movie Creature from the Black Lagoon. Alternatively, the mouth may not be connected with an underwater creature at all, but is an aspect of a landed animal."
~ Kenneth Radu (Fungible Beauty)
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“Very interesting Macri! This sculpture reminds me: a mutation that revisits, a primal and at the same time futuristic being! The Sumerian character Enki and his genetic experiments with the Anunaki!”
~ Paulo Fernandes (Diretor da Cia. Enki de Dança)
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“Archetypal! It calls up memories of ancient reptilian physiognomy - hauntingly personified! Medieval art cannot be over-studied. It is full of insights. For their music alone, it could hardly be called a dark age.”
~ Bob Boldt (American artist, writer, poet, film/video maker)
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“Adamo Macri’s earlier work, Jahrfish, features mutant fish-head artworks that garnered significant recognition for their surreal and captivating nature. Building upon this, Macri created The Lure (2023, 64 x 64 cm), a photographic project that further explores his fascination with human-animal hybrids and conceptual portraiture.”

Jahrfish


Jahrfish spill, 2026
66 x 66 cm

Miasma, 2024
76 x 71 cm - Edition: 2

Jahrfish raid, 2024
84 x 88 cm

Interlope Ruse, 2024
76 x 64 cm - Edition: 2

Jahrfish hazmat, 2017
84 x 88 cm

Jahrfish toxin appeara, 2017
84 x 88 cm - Edition: 3

Jahrfish, 2017
63.5 x 65 cm

Photography: Chromogenic C-print