Kim Adams (born 17 December 1951) is a Canadian
sculptor who is known for his assemblages combining prefabricated elements, often parts of cars or other machine-made structures. His visual style is influenced by
industrial design
Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...
, architecture and automotive design. His large-scale
sculptures incorporate the model railroading technique of
kitbashing, and bright stock colours. They may be shown in a park or street as well as in a museum setting.
His small surreal landscapes are toy-sized, and may be installed on shelves.
[Dan Adler, "Kim Adams". Artforum, March 2011.]
Career
Adams was born in Edmonton
and studied painting at the Northwest Institute of the Arts (1974), the Kootenay School of Art (1974-1975), and the
University of Victoria (1975-1977), where he received an MFA in 1979.
At the University of Victoria, he was taught by teachers with competing aesthetics,
Mowry Baden
Mowry Baden (born in 1936 in Los Angeles) is an American sculptor who has lived and worked in Canada since 1975. He is known for his gallery-based kinaesthetic sculptures and for his public sculpture, both of which require a strong element of bodi ...
and
Roland Brener. By 1976, Adams was an abstract painter, but knew that sculpture and installation were his future. Despite his formal education, Adams found much of his inspiration outside the classroom.
Adams’s sculpture work is composed of different parts: architectural structures, street events and miniature models of landscapes and architecture.
His practice grew from creating miniature models in the 1980s to life-size sculptures and installations. In ''Toaster Work Wagon'' (1997), Adams assembled bicycles, lawn chairs, and parts of a 1960 Volkswagen bus. For his ''Autolamp'' (2008), he used the shell of a 1985 Dodge Ram which through holes which perforate it, gives light, transforming it into a glowing structure. The
Mendel Art Gallery
The Mendel Art Gallery was a major creative cultural centre in City Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Operating from 1964 to 2015, it housed a permanent collection of more than 7,500 works of art. The gallery was managed by the city-owned Saskatoon G ...
acquired Kim Adams' sculpture ''Love Birds'' (1998-2010) in 2013 composed of 11 foot tall sculptures - made from water barrels, grain-silo caps, and parts of two Ford Econoline vans.
Since the 1980s, Adams has participated in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, Australia, the United States and Europe. In 1997, Adams participated in the international exhibition ''Skulptur Projekte 97'',
Münster, Germany. His major work for that project was ''Auto Office House'', permanently installed on the flat roof of a former 1950s gas station, now the Café Gasolin. More recently, his work was shown at the 2012 ''Kim Adams: One for the Road'',
Museum London
Museum London is an art and history museum located in London, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the forks of the Thames River. It started its operations in 1940 with London Public Library and amalgamated with London Regional Art Gallery an ...
, London, ON, and at
Art Gallery of Ontario in an exhibition titled ''Kim Adams: Recent Works'' in 2013.
His work is included in many major public collections such as the
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario, the
National Gallery of Canada, and the
Centraal Museum in Utrecht, Holland. His ''Brueghel-Bosch Bus'' (1997-ongoing, sculpture-installation) is permanently installed at the
Art Gallery of Hamilton.
In 2001, he created a permanent outdoor work for the
Vancouver Art Gallery.
In 2012, Adams received the
Gershon Iskowitz Prize. In 2013, he received a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
, from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In 2014, Adams won the
Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts
The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts are annual awards for achievements in visual and media arts in Canada. Up to eight awards are presented annually with the prize amount is $25,000
Created in 2000 by then Governor General Ad ...
.
References
External links
Kim Adams at the Wynick/Tuck Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Kim
1951 births
Canadian sculptors
Living people
Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners
Canadian installation artists
20th-century Canadian artists
21st-century Canadian artists