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Adam McEwen

Adam McEwen, Michael III, 2014 Inkjet print on cellulose sponge, 32 ¾ × 129 ¼ inches (83.2 × 328.3 cm)

Adam McEwen, Michael III, 2014

Inkjet print on cellulose sponge, 32 ¾ × 129 ¼ inches (83.2 × 328.3 cm)

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2012 Graphite mounted on aluminum panel, 96 × 48 inches (243.8 × 121.9 cm)

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2012

Graphite mounted on aluminum panel, 96 × 48 inches (243.8 × 121.9 cm)

Adam McEwen, I'm So Tired, 2007 Chromogenic print, 71 ⅝ × 79 ½ inches (181.9 × 201.9 cm), edition of 3

Adam McEwen, I'm So Tired, 2007

Chromogenic print, 71 ⅝ × 79 ½ inches (181.9 × 201.9 cm), edition of 3

About

Adam McEwen’s work resides somewhere between the celebratory and funereal. After writing obituaries for the Daily Telegraph in London, he began producing obituaries of living subjects such as Bill Clinton and Jeff Koons, highlighting the blurred line between history and fiction. In a reverse Midas-effect, McEwen has answered to the shimmering claims of Minimalist art by creating contemporary work that is freighted with the leaden melancholy of modern history. As a meditation on the many lives and deaths of art, he has created a space that conflates a beleaguered present with the afterlife of a potent and contentious moment in art history, in much the same way as his obituaries narrate the future-perfect of the rich, the famous, the beautiful, and the notorious. McEwen’s dead zone of dark relics and faded memories confronts us, literally and metaphysically, with the filthy lucre of our past and present.

Adam McEwen was born in 1965 in London, England. He received his B.A. in 1987 from Christ Church, Oxford, and then received his B.F.A. in 1991 from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia. McEwen’s work has been shown in major exhibitions around the world, including “Axis of Praxis,” Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2006); “Into Me/Out of Me,” P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2006); “Beg, Borrow and Steal,” Rubell Family Collection, Miami (2009); “The Reach of Realism,” Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (2009); “Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance,” Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010, traveled to Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain); “The Last Newspaper,” New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York (2010); “America Is Hard to See,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2015); and “Progressive Praxis,” de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space, Miami (2016). McEwen’s work was included in the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Recent solo exhibitions include The McAllister Institute, New York (2003); The Goss Michael Foundation, Dallas (2012); The Modern Institute, Glasgow (2013); Museo Civico Diocesano di Santa Maria dei Servi, Città della Piene (2015); “Tinnitus,” The Modern Institute, Glasgow (2016); and “Adam McEwen: I Think I'm in Love,” Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2017). McEwen’s works are in the public collections of the Rubell Family Collection, Miami; Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf; The Brant Foundation Art Study Center, Greenwich; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, Scotland; Jumex Collection, Mexico City; de la Cruz Collection, Miami; and Arts Council Collection, England.

McEwen has curated various projects and exhibitions, including “Power, Corruption and Lies,” (with Neville Wakefield; Roth Horowitz, New York, 2004); “Interstate” (Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, 2005); and “Beneath the Underdog” (with Nate Lowman; Gagosian Gallery, 2007). In 2010, he curated “Fresh Hell” at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, as the 2010 edition of the Carte Blanche series.

McEwen currently lives and works in New York City.

Adam McEwen

Photo: Floto+Warner

Fairs, Events & Announcements

Piero Golia, The Best Is Yet to Come, 2020 © Piero Golia

Auction

Printed Matter
Spring Benefit Auction

May 24–June 8, 2023

This online benefit auction for Printed Matter features over sixty donated artworks—some of which were created especially for the fundraiser—by contemporary artists, including Richard ArtschwagerPiero GoliaAdam McEwenRichard PrinceEd RuschaTaryn Simon, and Jonas Wood. Proceeds from the auction, which is hosted by Artsy, will support the nonprofit organization’s mission to further the distribution, understanding, and appreciation of artist’s books and related publications.

Piero Golia, The Best Is Yet to Come, 2020 © Piero Golia

Jadé Fadojutimi, As usual, the season’s showers tend to linger, 2023 © Jadé Fadojutimi

Art Fair

Art Basel Hong Kong 2023

March 22–25, 2023
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
www.artbasel.com

Gagosian is pleased to participate in Art Basel Hong Kong 2023 with a presentation of modern and contemporary works by international artists.

Jadé Fadojutimi, As usual, the season’s showers tend to linger, 2023 © Jadé Fadojutimi

Gagosian’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022. Artwork, left to right: © Gerhard Richter; © Amoako Boafo; © Richard Prince; © 2022 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Richard Diebenkorn Foundation; © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Stanley Whitney. Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

Art Fair

Art Basel Miami Beach 2022

December 1–3, 2022, booth D5
Miami Beach Convention Center
artbasel.com

Gagosian is pleased to present a selection of modern and contemporary works at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022. Returning to Miami for the fair’s twentieth anniversary, the gallery is honored to have participated each year the fair has been held.

Gagosian’s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2022. Artwork, left to right: © Gerhard Richter; © Amoako Boafo; © Richard Prince; © 2022 Judd Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Richard Diebenkorn Foundation; © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © Stanley Whitney. Photo: Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

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Museum Exhibitions

Rick Lowe, Untitled, 2021, installation view, Ruby City, San Antonio © Rick Lowe Studio. Photo: Ansen Seale

Closed

Tangible/Nothing

September 8, 2022–July 30, 2023
Ruby City, San Antonio
www.rubycity.org

Tangible/Nothing presents a new installation from Ruby City’s permanent collection galleries and features approximately forty works by national and international artists, including those with ties to San Antonio and to Texas. The exhibition explores how the invisible or the seemingly mundane can reveal greater meaning, and it aims to tap into our collective experience of absence and presence over the past two years, when the physical separation from family and friends necessitated finding all manner of ways to connect with them in absentia. Work by Rick Lowe and Adam McEwen is included.

Rick Lowe, Untitled, 2021, installation view, Ruby City, San Antonio © Rick Lowe Studio. Photo: Ansen Seale

Installation view, Third Dimension: Works from the Brant Foundation, Brant Foundation, New York, November 13, 2019–September 3, 2020. Artwork, front to back: © Urs Fischer, © Dan Flavin

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Third Dimension
Works from the Brant Foundation

November 13, 2019–September 3, 2020
Brant Foundation, New York
brantfoundation.org

Bringing together more than twenty artists integral to the Brant Foundation’s collection, this exhibition offers a glimpse into the multifaceted practices of artists whose work Peter M. Brant has collected over the past fifty years. Work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Urs Fischer, Mike Kelley, Adam McEwen, Richard Prince, Andy Warhol, and Franz West is included.

Installation view, Third Dimension: Works from the Brant Foundation, Brant Foundation, New York, November 13, 2019–September 3, 2020. Artwork, front to back: © Urs Fischer, © Dan Flavin

Urs Fischer, Untitled, 2015. Photo by Mats Nordman

Closed

The Transported Man

April 29–October 22, 2017
Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing
broadmuseum.msu.edu

The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University is pleased to announce its debut exhibition curated by director Marc-Olivier Wahler. The Transported Man spans the entire museum and features more than fifty renowned and emerging artists whose work relies on the notion of belief. Work by Walter De Maria, Urs Fischer, and Adam McEwen is included.

Urs Fischer, Untitled, 2015. Photo by Mats Nordman

Sterling Ruby, 99/MK, 2017. Photo by Robert Wedemeyer

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99 Cents or Less

May 19–August 6, 2017
Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
mocadetroit.org

A major group exhibition of ninety-nine artists based in the United States addresses Detroit’s ongoing economic crisis and its 2013 bankruptcy. Four years after a federal judge approved Detroit’s bankruptcy-exit plan, the city’s financial present and future are still in flux. This exhibition is a reflection on the realities of a city that was once one of the country’s wealthiest and most diverse. Work by Piero Golia, Alex Israel, Adam McEwen, Josephine Meckseper, and Sterling Ruby is included.

Sterling Ruby, 99/MK, 2017. Photo by Robert Wedemeyer

See all Museum Exhibitions for Adam McEwen