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Adam McEwen

11.11.11

November 11–December 23, 2011
Beverly Hills

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

ADAM McEWEN: 11.11.11 Installation view Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

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Installation video

Works Exhibited

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2011 Graphite, 136 ¾ × 149 ¾ × 15 ½ inches (347.3 × 380.4 × 39.4 cm), edition of 3Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2011

Graphite, 136 ¾ × 149 ¾ × 15 ½ inches (347.3 × 380.4 × 39.4 cm), edition of 3
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2011 Graphite, 56 × 12 ¾ × 14 inches (142.2 × 32.4 × 35.6 cm), edition of 3Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2011

Graphite, 56 × 12 ¾ × 14 inches (142.2 × 32.4 × 35.6 cm), edition of 3
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2011 Graphite, 54 ¼ × 112 × 3 ¼ inches (137.8 × 284.5 × 8.3 cm), edition of 3Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2011

Graphite, 54 ¼ × 112 × 3 ¼ inches (137.8 × 284.5 × 8.3 cm), edition of 3
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2011 (detail) Graphite, 54 ¼ × 112 × 3 ¼ inches (137.8 × 284.5 × 8.3 cm), edition of 3Photo by Ben Lee Ritchie Handler

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2011 (detail)

Graphite, 54 ¼ × 112 × 3 ¼ inches (137.8 × 284.5 × 8.3 cm), edition of 3
Photo by Ben Lee Ritchie Handler

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2011 76 × 34 ¾ × 53 ½ inches (193 × 88.3 × 135.9 cm), edition of 3Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Untitled, 2011

76 × 34 ¾ × 53 ½ inches (193 × 88.3 × 135.9 cm), edition of 3
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Chemnitz, 2011 Acrylic and chewing gum on canvas, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)

Adam McEwen, Chemnitz, 2011

Acrylic and chewing gum on canvas, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)

Adam McEwen, Frankfurt, 2011 Acrylic and chewing gum on canvas, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)

Adam McEwen, Frankfurt, 2011

Acrylic and chewing gum on canvas, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)

Adam McEwen, New York, New York, 2011 Chewing gum on linen, 90 × 130 inches (228.6 × 330.2 cm)

Adam McEwen, New York, New York, 2011

Chewing gum on linen, 90 × 130 inches (228.6 × 330.2 cm)

Adam McEwen, Anne Frank, 2011 Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Anne Frank, 2011

Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Duane Reade, 2011 Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Duane Reade, 2011

Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, The Collyer Bros., 2011 Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, The Collyer Bros., 2011

Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Whitey Bulger, 2011 Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Whitey Bulger, 2011

Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, CVS, 2011 Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, CVS, 2011

Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Rite Aid, 2011 Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Adam McEwen, Rite Aid, 2011

Graphite, 90 × 70 inches (228.6 × 177.8 cm)
Photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

About

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition “11.11.11” by Adam McEwen, his first in Los Angeles.

The numerical and graphic symmetry of the title gives an epochal feel to this major exhibition by McEwen, which makes explicit the interrelationships between individual works and persistent themes in his oeuvre via a specifically devised scenography.

Wall-size grids of black-and-white photographic wallpaper—from the firestorming of Dresden, to McEwen dressed up as Bomber Harris (the British air commander who perfected the technique of carpet-bombing German cities during WWII), and gum-spattered New York sidewalks—line several galleries, drawing an analogy between planned destruction and urban desecration. They provide backdrops for droll “gum” paintings and impassive, machined graphite “paintings” that recall Minimalist compositions but which are, in fact, modeled on the figured, non-slip metal doors inset into New York sidewalks.

In 1994, McEwen made a drawing of a block, labeling it BLOCK OF GRAPHITE. But it was not until 2007 that, fascinated by the possibilities of this common but often unrecognized material, he began producing via industrial machining finely carved graphite sculptures that mimic real objects. In this exhibition, precise representations of everyday items—a water cooler, a roll gate, a safe—animate the galleries with their eerie reticence, a series of simulacra perfectly and perversely rendered in what is, in reality, dark, light-absorbing, compressed carbon. (The dust from the graphite industry is sold on to pencil companies.)

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