Adam Parker Smith: Sarcophagi

Adam Parker Smith: Sarcophagi  
Jan 16 — May 17, 2024


Artist Talk: Wednesday, March 6, 5:30pm
UTC’s Benwood Auditorium, EMCS Building, 735 Vine Street
Details here.

ICA Chattanooga presents three sculptures in Adam Parker Smith’s (American, b. 1978) Sarcophagi series on the campus grounds of UTC. The works are located across from the University Center on Vine Street.

Smith's Sarcophagi appear recognizable as sub-zero sleeping bags standing upright on marble bases. Could they be occupied, and if so, by whom? 
Created in 2021 as a response to the world's huge loss from the Covid-19 pandemic, Smith’s Sarcophagi, while playful and recognizable, mourn the absence of public commemorations of death during this global crisis. In name, shape, and tonality, they also reference ancient and elaborate burial rituals, where embalming and entombing a body in stone could preserve it for millennia. 
As a sharp contrast, Parker Smith thinks about today's synthetic materials (like polyester down in sleeping bags) that will outlast us, and maybe even societies, as they occupy landfills around the world. While the objects of his sculptures are easily relatable, they are also undercut with satire, ultimately asking us to think about our positions and societal values.

Adam Parker Smith (American, b. 1978) is a Brooklyn based sculptor. He attended Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. His work has been shown widely in the USA as well as internationally in galleries and museums including: the Brooklyn Museum, Marlborough Gallery, London; Derek Eller, New York; The Hole, New York; Ever Gold Projects, San Fransisco; The Donum Estate, Sonoma; Galeria Curro, Guadalajara; Spurs Gallery, Beijing; The Times Museum, Guangzhou, China; Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe, Austria; The Watermill Center, New York and the Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah, UAE. Smith’s work has been written about in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Art in America, The Village Voice, ArtForum, Modern Painters, The Boston Globe, The New Yorker and The New York Post.