Adam McEwen

Gagosian is pleased to announce an exhibition of new works by Adam McEwen. Opening on January 26, 2023, this will be McEwen’s first solo gallery exhibition in London.

The exhibition on Davies Street introduces new obituary works by McEwen, who is returning to this ongoing series for the first time in over a decade. As with the artist’s paintings and life-size sculptures made of graphite and other materials, these works operate between the familiar and the uncanny, optimism and oblivion.

In London, blown-up facsimiles of obituaries are dedicated to well-known people including musicians Grace Jones and Dolly Parton, tech philosopher Jaron Lanier, and climate activist Greta Thunberg. Contemporary public figures with a diverse range of life stories and accomplishments, all of them are in fact still alive.

Begun in 2000, the series predates the ubiquity and ambiguities of social media in its consideration of history, truth, and fiction. The obituary works initially emerged from McEwen’s previous experience of writing obituaries part-time while a young artist in London. They reflect the roles that his selected subjects have played in defining contemporary understandings of the environment, technology, spirituality, culture, and identity.