Adam McEwen

Petzel Gallery is pleased to present Traditional Contemporary, a grouping of new works by New York-based artist Adam McEwen. Comprised of three large-scale drawings on paper and two wall-mounted sculptures, Traditional Contemporary echoes themes previously explored by McEwen to create a disquieting opposition of the familiar momentarily made unfamiliar.

Mounted onto the wall, the sculptures have been cast in concrete from used, deployed automobile airbags, triggered by unknown collisions. The charcoal drawings are of Scottish beer cans from the 1970s, previously used several times in the artist's sculptures and installations, and which have become part of the extended vocabulary of his practice. The memorialized women featured in these drawings harken back to McEwen’s earlier obituary works. The implicit violence of placing the image of a woman on a lager can is mirrored by the deadened violence of the air bags.

Petzel Gallery is located at 456 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 and 35 East 67th Street New York, NY 10065. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM.

For press inquiries, please contact Janine Latham at janine@petzel.com, or call (212) 680-9467.

Traditional Contemporary

456 W 18th Street

October 30 – December 19, 2015

Selected Works

Press Release