About
Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition by the New York–based British artist Adam McEwen in Hong Kong comprising a cross section of his work, including new paintings as well as sculptures made in graphite, a material with which he is closely linked. The artist’s first solo exhibition in Asia, it will open on February 2.
McEwen’s practice tends to foreground and isolate banal objects—a yoga mat, a drinking fountain, plastic cups—to the degree that they become unstuck from their familiar, reassuring meanings. His sculptures in graphite or cast iron, for all intents and purposes straightforward and accurate renditions, suggest a sense of the uncanny and a feeling of slight displacement.
Similarly, his recent paintings present everyday things in a simplified graphic language that decontextualizes them, freeing them from their usual connotations. The subjects are chosen for no other reason than that, for McEwen, they seem to hold some import: a railway arch near his studio, a drawing of a lion that symbolizes power and strength, a pair of street lamps near Grand Central Station in New York that form a kind of entranceway, a sword found hidden behind a radiator when the artist renovated his apartment.
By simplifying their depiction, these subjects become accessible and the relationship between subject and viewer becomes stronger and more charged than the one between the subject and its everyday meaning.
高古軒欣然呈獻常駐紐約的英國藝術家亞當·麥克伊文(Adam McEwen)於香港的展覽,並展出他的一系列作品,包括新的繪畫作品以及石墨雕塑,石墨是一種與他密切相關的材料。這是他在亞洲的首個個展,將於 2 月 2 日開幕。
麥克伊文的創作傾向於突出和單獨考慮平平無奇的物體——瑜伽墊、飲水機、塑膠杯——使它們脫離熟悉的、令人安心的意義。他用石墨或鑄鐵製作的雕塑,直截了當、準確無誤,給人一種怪誕感以及微妙的錯位感。
他近期的畫作以相似的簡化圖形語言呈現日常的事物,將其去脈絡化,令其擺脫通常的涵義。這些主題的選擇沒有什麼特別原因,對麥克伊文來說,它們似乎具有某種意義:他工作室附近的一座鐵路拱門、一幅象徵權力和力量的獅子繪畫、紐約中央車站附近的一對路燈(它們構成了一種入口通道)、藝術家在翻修公寓時發現的一把藏在暖氣機後面的劍。
透過簡化它們的形象,這些主題變得更平易近人,同時主題與觀眾之間的關係,相較於主題與其原本日常意義的關係,變得更加牢固且更具活力。
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Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2023
The Spring 2023 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Roe Ethridge’s Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on its cover.
In Conversation
Adam McEwen and Ian Penman
In conjunction with his exhibitions Adam McEwen at Gagosian in London, and Adam McEwen: XXIII at Gagosian in Rome, the artist sits down with author Ian Penman to discuss his new obituary works and graphite sculptures.
Adam McEwen: An Act of Love
Contemporary artists Adam McEwen and Jeremy Deller met up online over the holiday season to discuss McEwen’s upcoming exhibitions in London and Rome. McEwen delves into the motivations and criteria behind his work, as well as the challenges and complexities of memorializing the living.