Adam Parker Smith’s Fiberglass, Resin Sculptures Emulate Party Accessories

Adam Parker Smith, a sculptor and installation artist based in New York, creates works that offer different insights at every perspective. His sculptures, made from resin, fiberglass, steel, and preserved mylar, emulate party balloons, recalling the work of artists like Jeff Koons. Yet Smith exposes the hollow innards of his work at different angles, and calls upon inspiration from centuries past.

During a recent show at The Hole in New York City, the gallery said this about Smith’s work: “While the artist is inspired by classical works like Augustus of Primaporta, the Artemision Bronze, the Venus de Milo or Winged Victory, to contemporary eyes the works evoke perhaps a sagging Koons balloon sculpture, or to a non art person, a birthday array the morning after,” the gallery says. “Like the wall works, the sculptures aren’t transcending their materials, they are kind of unapologetically chintzy, but owning it. At different angles the effect changes: on approach the sculptures are perfect and temporary fake loveliness, and on the back as they recede you see the messy reality of how they were made and yet simultaneously their permanence.”

Smith’s recent shows have taken his work to San Francisco, New York, and Chicago. His wall work, also emulating varying materials, textiles, and textures, offer assemblages of different themes.