[Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Gardens), 2012 - 2013; Imaged sourced from AGO]
That's Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Gardens) up there. When I saw it back in 2013 at the Art Gallery of Ontario, it was covered by a clear plastic box and tucked away in a rather dark corner of the gallery.
[My photo of Artist Colony (Gardens) I shot at the Art Gallery of Ontario's 2013 exhibit]
That second photo I shot at the AGO. The protective plastic enclosure made it difficult to look at and photograph. This being the situation, I was only able to take a few pictures of scene details, but not that many, and they weren't the quality I was looking for ....
[Detail from Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Gardens), 2012-2013; Imaged sourced from Art Gallery of Ontario's Kim Adams Feb 20 - Aug 11 2013 exhibit brochure.]
[Detail from Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Gardens), 2012-2013; Imaged sourced from Art Gallery of Ontario's Kim Adams Feb 20 - Aug 11 2013 exhibit brochure.]
[Detail from Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Gardens), 2012-2013; Imaged sourced from Art Gallery of Ontario's Kim Adams Feb 20 - Aug 11 2013 exhibit brochure.]
[Detail from Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Gardens), 2012-2013; Imaged sourced from Art Gallery of Ontario's Kim Adams Feb 20 - Aug 11 2013 exhibit brochure.]
[Detail from Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Gardens), 2012-2013; Imaged sourced from Art Gallery of Ontario's Kim Adams Feb 20 - Aug 11 2013 exhibit brochure.]
[Detail from Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Gardens), 2012-2013; Imaged sourced from Art Gallery of Ontario's Kim Adams Feb 20 - Aug 11 2013 exhibit brochure.]
[Detail from Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Gardens), 2012-2013; Imaged sourced from Art Gallery of Ontario's Kim Adams Feb 20 - Aug 11 2013 exhibit brochure.]
Well, I did snap this detail photo of the top of the stack. It caught me off guard, as I had that little pink shirted Prieser architect placed in a similar manner in the top unit of the Ocean View Hotel.
I did some Internet searching and found that dioramas featuring stacked items such as freight cars and shipping containers have been a recurring theme in some of Kim Adams' work.
[Kim Adams' Sleepover (Artist Colony), 2012; Image sourced from Canada Council for the Arts.]
[Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Phase 2): Project Port Credit, 2009; Image sourced from Blackwood Gallery.]
[Kim Adams' Artist Colony (Phase 2): Project Port Credit, 2009; Image sourced from Blackwood Gallery.]
[Kim Adams' Condo Box, 2003; Image sourced from Wynick/Tuck Gallery.]
[Kim Adams' Summer Studio, 1996; Imaged sourced from CCA Canadian Art Database.]
[Kim Adams' Skyscratch, 1995; Image sourced from CCA Canadian Art Database]
[Kim Adams' Model dedicated to Robert Smithson and Gordon Matta-Clark, 1995; Image sourced from CCA Canadian Art Database.]
[Kim Adams' Artist Colony, 1987-1989; Image sourced from Bureau de Change.]
[Detail from Kim Adams' Artist Colony, 1987-1989; Image sourced from akimbo]
This likely isn't an exhaustive list of Kim Adams' work based on stacking scale models, but I think it's a representative selection.
Stacking shipping containers, among other things, isn't that unusual theses days. Just type shipping container architecture into Google and you'll get thousands of images returned. There's even a wikipedia entry.
Of all the images that are out there in Internet land, this one struck me as rather Adams-like.
Vince sent me a link to the excellent N-scale Free Haven Harbor Terminal layout. It was a layout that was built and operated by the French Association of N Scale Friends between 1994 and 2011. Among the many fascinating scenes is the one above of a hobo camp staked out amongst some abandoned shipping containers.
Of all the images that are out there in Internet land, this one struck me as rather Adams-like.
[Freitag store in Zurich. Image sourced from inhabit.]
This is Freitag's store in Zurich. inhabit noted in 2011 that it was the world's tallest shipping container building at 26 metres - it might still be.
[A stack structure in Simon Stalenhag's vision of a future America. Image sourced from Simon Stalenhag Art Gallery]
The above painting by Simon Stalenhag won't be found in the shipping container architecture search results, but his powerful futuristic paintings of ubiquitous and monumental, but at the same time weathered and familiar, technological structures are powerful and incredibly believable. They seem so familiar I expect to see one somewhere in the landscape on my next trip to the grocery store.
[Hobo Camp. "Hobos have found a shelter in these used containers, temporarily giving up their
train travels." A sight along the N-scale Free Haven Harbor Terminal layout. Image sourced from FHHT.]
Vince sent me a link to the excellent N-scale Free Haven Harbor Terminal layout. It was a layout that was built and operated by the French Association of N Scale Friends between 1994 and 2011. Among the many fascinating scenes is the one above of a hobo camp staked out amongst some abandoned shipping containers.
To me, Adams' works stand out from all these worldly examples in two particular areas. First, there's colour. They don't shy away from an expansive use of colour. Bright, primary and non-weathered colour.
Second, as I mentioned, the others are situated in our world, or seemingly logical extensions of our world, but Adams' are part of a world unto themselves. A new, dynamic world where they are the norm and not odd interlopers. And they enable or enhance new ways of life amongst their inhabitants, not just facilitate the status quo.
To a certain degree they remind me of are those self contained, totally designed worlds housed in the giant space station concepts of the 1970s. O'Neal colonies, Stanford Tori, Bernal Spheres, that sort of thing.
To a certain degree they remind me of are those self contained, totally designed worlds housed in the giant space station concepts of the 1970s. O'Neal colonies, Stanford Tori, Bernal Spheres, that sort of thing.
Take a look at the residences in the model that appear around the 2:15 mark. Here's a screen rip.
[A screenshot from the NASA video around the 2:15 mark.]
Stacked boxes is the norm. And over on the left, that looks like some sort of vehicle riding on a track or guide rail. A space station streetcar? Who knows, but it looks like it's gliding down some residential street.
Lots of sedate colours. Palm trees, but no hippos :-) An Adams inspired space colony would be a thing to behold.
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