©Adam McEwen. *Untitled (Greta)*, 2023. C-print, dry mounted on Dibond, 60 x 40 in
152.4 x 101.6 cm. Edition of 5 + 3 APs. Photo by Lucy Dawkins. Courtesy Gagosian.

Written by Sophie Mulgrew

Copy Edited by Robyn Hager

Photo Edited by Dani Stein

If you could read your own obituary, would you? What would it say? For many years artist Adam McEwen has been imagining and creating obituaries of public figures and stars while they are still very much alive. The latest installment of this series, which features Greta Gerwig, Dolly Parton, Marc Almond and more, showed at the Gagosian in London from January 26th to March 18th.

The series first began in 2000, and since then has been shown in a plethora of galleries and museums across the world. The work addresses timeless questions concerning the boundary between truth and fiction, historical accuracy, and the malleability of fact. Inspired by McEwen’s experience writing obituaries part-time during his early career as an artist, the images and text have a hyper-realistic quality, mimicking the texture and format of an actual newspaper page.

© Adam McEwen, *installation view*, 2023. Photo by Lucy Dawkins.Courtesy Gagosian.

©Adam McEwen. *Untitled (Marc)*, 2023. C-print, dry mounted on Dibond, 56 1/2 x 39 5/8 x 1 1/4 inches, 143.5 x 100.6 x 3.2 cm. Photo by Lucy Dawkins. Courtesy Gagosian.

In this sense, the work appears oddly familiar; viewers may feel as though they are simply reading the day's paper. And yet, they are also deeply unsettling. In consuming the art, one must consider what it might actually be like for McEwen’s subjects to die. What would a world without them– or any of us– look like? What does it mean to consider the value of someone’s life while it’s still being lived? The pieces also critique - perhaps even mock - the practice of traditional portraiture in the art world. They question art’s ability to memorialize its subjects.

©Adam McEwen. *Untitled (Grace)*, 2023. C-print, dry mounted on Dibond, 60 x 40 in
152.4 x 101.6 cm. Edition of 5 + 3 APs. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd. Courtesy Gagosian.

The project’s installation at The Gagosian is accompanied by an aluminum sculpture by McEwen titled Rain Puddle. In the piece, rods of rain drops are shown falling into a metal pond below. The sculpture creates stillness out of a dynamic moment, allowing the viewer to perceive a particular instance in great detail. The sculpture works in conversation with the rest of the exhibition; questioning the malleability of time and its impact on our perceptions.

©Adam McEwen. *Rain Puddle*, 2023. Milled aluminum, 47 1/4 x 31 1/2 x 2 3/4 in, 120 x 80 x 7 cm. Photo by Lucy Dawkins. Courtesy Gagosian.

McEwen’s obituaries are honest and provocative. He records accurate facts and elements of his subject’s lives, including both the good and the bad. He strives to create as “full” a portrait as possible, yet, it is the impossibility of this feat that is the project's real thesis. How does one capture a life in just one photo and page? What are the stakes of memorializing a person via a single newspaper printing? How does art treat the dead differently from the living? Though McEwen has been producing the series in different iterations for decades, the work remains timely and essential– especially against the backdrop of recent discussions surrounding the politics of misinformation. McEwen reminds us that life and art are always worthy of celebration.