This incredible tour de force by Kim Adams is in the 4th year of a proposed 10 year project. It presents a unique opportunity for us to see a work in progress and to engage in a fictional world that is both magnificent and apocalyptic.
Bruegel-Bosch Bus is created from a Volkswagon van that has been cut to expose territories of leisure and industry—each encroaching on the other. Embracing a world of mischief and disorder, Adams uses model kits, toys, and HO scale figures to create various areas like those found in an amusement theme park.
In this colossal work we experience a kind of "grotesque" realism where we witness grand museums created from old industrial sites, a steel plant spewing out (toxic?) waste, a strike of industrial workers ready and armed with an ultimatum, a territory where John Lennon teaches "peace" to frolicking superheroes and a movie production complex ready for "action." Like the historical artists for which the piece is named, Adams creates landscapes and scenes of daily life that stress the absurd and vulgar but are also imbued with zest and fine detail. Adams has created a mobile hybrid creation that is exorbitant and continues to grow (even the gallery's doors were rebuilt to accommodate it!) Like Bruegel's Tower of Babel it is a parasite too big for its host. Astute, playful, serious and enticing, this marvellous work is an invitation to look at ourselves and the values we entertain.
Curated by Marnie Fleming
