Adam McEwen - Contemporary Art Evening Sale New York Thursday, March 4, 2010 | Phillips

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  • Provenance


    Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York

  • Exhibited


    New York, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, Adam McEwen: 8.00 for 8.30, September 7 - October 14, 2006

  • Literature


    I. Scobie, “Death of the Installment Plan,” Artnet (online content) September 8, 2006 (illustrated); P. Eleey, “Adam McEwen,” Frieze Magazine, Milan, November/December 2006, p. 161; M. Amy, “Adam McEwen at Nicole Klagsbrun,” Art in America, January 2007, p. 147

  • Catalogue Essay


    "McEwen’s paintings, named after German cities destroyed by England and the United States during WWII, present an aerial view of the devastated landscape. The chewed and glued gum blobs suggest the random patterns of falling munitions, and can resemble macabre stretched-out death’s heads or hairy splatters. The pictures also have a staccato elegance that is reminiscent of Larry Poons’ Op Art abstractions from the late 1960s. McEwen enlisted art students and friends of friends to help chew the gum, which was sugar-free.
    [The artist states,] 'For somebody of my generation—the late ‘60s and early ‘70s—World War II was what boys knew about. There were these little war comics as well as military pornography floating around the school. We were taught war history. Britain’s identity as victors is very deep—you grow up with it, as well as funny, ridiculous and racist images of Nazi Germany. Vietnam meant nothing to us. It’s a practical thing. The effects of WWII are still here today.' As is the relevance of exploring war and victory during these turbulent times."
    I. Scobie, “Death of the Installment Plan,” Artnet (online content) September 8, 2006

2

Kassel

2006

Acrylic and chewing gum on canvas.

90 x 70 in. (228.6 x 177.8 cm).
Signed and dated “A. McEwen 2006” on the stretcher.

Estimate
$30,000 - 40,000 

Sold for $50,000

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

4 Mar 2010
New York