Kim Adams
{{short description|Canadian artist (born 1951)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Kim Adams
| image =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1951|12|17}}
| birth_place = Edmonton, Alberta
| death_date =
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| nationality =
| spouse = Barbara Fischer
| field =
| training = 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.
| movement =
| works =
| patrons =
| awards = Gershon Iskowitz Prize (2012), Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2014)
| elected =
| known_for = Sculptor
}}
Kim Adams (born 17 December 1951{{cn|date=August 2024}}) is a Canadian sculptor who is known for his assemblages combining prefabricated elements, often parts of cars or other machine-made structures.{{cite news|title=Earth Machines |first=Marg|last=Langton |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/514879481.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+23%2C+1992&author=Marg+Langton&pub=The+Spectator&desc=Earth+Machines&pqatl=google |newspaper=The Hamilton Spectator |date=23 July 1992 |accessdate=15 September 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108012226/https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/514879481.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS%3AFT&type=current&date=Jul%2B23%2C%2B1992&author=Marg%2BLangton&pub=The%2BSpectator&desc=Earth%2BMachines&pqatl=google |archivedate= 8 November 2012 }}{{cite book |last1=Sloan |first1=Johanne |title=The New Figuration: From Pop to Postmodernism, The Visual Arts in Canada: The Twentieth Century |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford |location=Canada |pages=275|url=https://search.library.utoronto.ca/search?N=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nu=p_work_normalized&Np=1&Ntt=visual%20arts%20in%20canada%3A%20twentieth%20century&Ntk=Anywhere |accessdate=2020-08-29}} His visual style is influenced by industrial design, architecture and automotive design.{{cite news |title=Kim Adams' 'Optic Nerve' lights up Babeville |author=Colin Dabkowski |url=http://www.buffalonews.com/entertainment/gusto/article214255.ece |newspaper=The Buffalo News |date=8 October 2010 |accessdate=15 September 2011}} His large-scale sculptures incorporate the model railroading technique of kitbashing,{{cite web |last1=Whyte |first1=Murray |title=Bland Objects Made Beautiful |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/2010/11/03/whyte_bland_objects_made_beautiful.html |website=www.thestar.com |publisher=Toronto Star, 3 Nov 2010 |access-date=2021-05-03}}{{cite news |title=National Gallery a welcome addition to Queen West |author=Murray Whyte |url=https://www.thestar.com/article/888314 |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=10 November 2010 |accessdate=15 September 2011}} and bright stock colours. They may be shown in a park or street as well as in a museum setting.{{cite web |title=Kim Adams: Brueghel-Bosch Bus |url=https://www.artgalleryofhamilton.com/exhibition/kim-adams-bruegel-bosch-bus/ |website=www.artgalleryofhamilton.com |publisher=Art Gallery of Hamilton |access-date=2021-06-02}} 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.{{cite web |last1=Fleming |first1=Marnie |title=Kim Adams |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/kim-adams |website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca |publisher=Canadian Encyclopedia |access-date=2021-06-04}} At the University of Victoria, he was taught by teachers with competing aesthetics, Mowry Baden 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.{{cite web |title=Kim Adams |url=https://www.tusslemagazine.com/kim-adams |website=www.tusslemagazine.com |publisher=tussle magazine |access-date=2021-06-04}}{{cite web|title=Mendel Art Gallery Announces Major Gift to its Collection From BMO Financial Group|url=http://www.mendel.ca/gift-from-bmo/#more-7686|publisher=Mendel Art Gallery|accessdate=28 March 2015}} 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.E.C. Woodley, "Kim Adams". Art in America, March 2011. The Mendel Art Gallery (now amalgamated into Remai Modern) 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.
Selected exhibitions
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.{{cite web |title=Skulptur Projekte |url=https://www.skulptur-projekte-archiv.de/en-us/1997/projects/67/ |website=www.skulptur-projekte-archiv.de |publisher=Muenster Museum, Germany |access-date=2021-06-04}} More recently, his work was shown at El Geni de Les Coses, Office for Artistic Diffusion (ODA), Barcelona (2009), the 2010 group exhibition Insiders at CAPC musée d'art contemporain,{{cite web |title=Artists |url=https://www.diazcontemporary.ca/Artists_Adams.html |website=/www.diazcontemporary.ca |publisher=Diaz Contemporary |access-date=18 October 2023}} the 2012 Kim Adams: One for the Road show, Museum London, London, ON,{{cite web |title=Kim Adams: One for the Road |url=http://museumlondon.ca/exhibitions/kim-adams-one-for-the-road |website=museumlondon.ca |publisher=Museum London, London, Ontario |access-date=2021-06-07}} and at the Art Gallery of Ontario in an exhibition titled Kim Adams: Recent Works in 2013.{{cite web |title=Kim Adams: Recent Works |url=https://ago.ca/exhibitions/kim-adams-recent-works |website=ago.ca |publisher=Art Gallery of Ontario |access-date=2021-06-02}} Adams was represented by Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, where he showed Caboose in 2013 (the gallery closed in 2016). In 2024, the Winnipeg Art Gallery held the exhibition titled "Kim Adam: Earth Wagons".{{cite web |title=Exhibitions |url=https://www.wag.ca/exhibitions/kim-adams/ |website=www.wag.ca |publisher=Winipeg Art Gallery |access-date=1 April 2024}}
Selected public collections
Adams's work is included in many major public collections such as the Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly the Albright-Knox Art Gallery),{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://www.albrightknox.org/search-collection?keyword=kim+adams&search_by=all&op=Search&title=kim+adams&field_brief_bio_value=kim+adams&title_person=kim+adams&field_description_value=&name=kim+adams |website=www.albrightknox.org |publisher=Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo |access-date=2021-06-04}} Art Gallery of Ontario,{{cite web |title=The Collection |url=https://ago.ca/collection/browse?keys=kim%20adams |website=ago.ca |publisher=Art Gallery of Ontario |access-date=2021-06-02}} the National Gallery of Canada,{{cite web |title=Kim Adams |url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/kim-adams |website=www.gallery.ca |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |access-date=2021-06-02}} the Remai Modern,{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://remaimodern.org/?s=kim+adams |website=remaimodern.org |publisher=Remai Modern, Saskatoon |access-date=18 October 2023}} and the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, Holland.{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://www.centraalmuseum.nl/en/@@search?SearchableText=kim+adams&portal_type%3Alist=Object |website=/www.centraalmuseum.nl/en/ |publisher=Centraal Museum, Utrecht |access-date=2021-06-02}} His Brueghel-Bosch Bus (1997-ongoing, sculpture-installation) is permanently installed at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.{{cite web |title=Film |url=https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tLP1TcwTk4uMqswYPQSyM7MVUhMScwtVkgsKsksLgEAi9gJ0g&q=kim+adams+artist&rlz=1C1GCEA_enCA756CA756&oq=&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCQgBEC4YJxjqAjIJCAAQIxgnGOoCMgkIARAuGCcY6gIyCQgCECMYJxjqAjIPCAMQLhgnGK8BGMcBGOoCMg8IBBAuGCcYxwEY6gIY0QMyCQgFECMYJxjqAjIJCAYQLhgnGOoCMgkIBxAjGCcY6gLSAQkxOTcwajBqMTWoAgiwAgE&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&ip=1&vld=cid:f7e0e497,vid:CQdOu0kqswE,st:0 |website=www.google.com |publisher=AGH, 2020 |access-date=18 October 2023}} In 2001, he created a permanent outdoor work for the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Honours and awards
In 2012, Adams received the Gershon Iskowitz Prize.{{cite web |title=Iskowitz Prize |url=https://www.ago.net/iskowitz-prize |website=www.ago.net |publisher=Art Gallery of Ontario |access-date=2021-06-04}} In 2013, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship,{{cite web |title=Kim Adams Receives the Governor-Generals`s Award |url=https://finearts.uvic.ca/research/project/kim-adams-wins-governor-generals-award/ |website=finearts.uvic.ca |publisher=University of Victoria |access-date=2021-06-04}} from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In 2014, Adams won the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.{{cite web |title=Winner Archives |url=https://en.ggarts.ca/the-awards/winner-archives |website=en.ggarts.ca |publisher=Governor General of Canada |access-date=2021-06-01}}
References
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External links
- [http://www.wynicktuckgallery.ca/artists/adams.htm Kim Adams at the Wynick/Tuck Gallery]
- [http://www.ccca.ca/artists/artist_info.html?languagePref=en&link_id=167&artist=Kim+Adams Kim Adams at the Canadian Contemporary Art Database]
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Category:Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners
Category:Canadian installation artists