Transportation figures heavily in Kim Adams work. Tractors, trucks, farm equipment, and VW vans gets transmogrified into new forms that work both as visual gags (Cheese truck, or Dragon Wagon) and as new methods for “how to get there.” Transportation technology changes our relationship to time and space. The world becomes much larger when on foot than when driving in a car. A twenty minute walk can quickly turn into a five minute drive. The same goes for airplanes and rockets. If we travel fast enough for time dilation to take effect, our relationship becomes something else entirely.
When we get behind the wheel of vehicle we often know where we are going to arrive, the grocery store, work, home,but the wider implications of having vehicular travel escapes us. The drivers license being in every one’s pocket, the impact on climate change, the rise of secondary industries, such as manufacturing car seats for children,remain out of our vision. In this sense, It is not always clear where we are going. Kim Adams’ work keeps both of these destinations in mind.
Love Birds (pictured above) contain references to the space race with the punctured grain bin bering close resemblance to the Apollo Capsule. Further references to the 60s are found in the model VW vans and Beetles that have punctured with holes that spiral around the objects in psychedelic patterns. This part roots us in our past, however we’re also made the think of the present. The puncture holes look as if the VW vans have done a tour of duty. The reconfigured transport trucks bring to mind the the current methods of the transportation of goods around the world. Adams then sends us to the future as we consider where vehicles will take us. Unlike other images of the future that seem sterile and post human. Adams’ use of farm equipment reminds us that we can’t so easily escape our environment and we must consider the very basic human elements, food water, shelter, when thinking about where we’ll go and how we’ll get there.
Kim Adams’ work is at the Diaz Contemporary Until Nov. 20th
