Terry Adkins (b. 1953, Washington, D.C., d. 2014, Brooklyn, NY) was a sculptor, musician, filmmaker, printmaker, and orchestrator of installations and experiences. A thoughtful and rigorous artist and teacher, his work remains hugely influential and widely acclaimed. Adkins grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, and studied printmaking before receiving an MFA in sculpture from the University of Kentucky, Lexington. One-person exhibitions of Adkins’ work include Recital at the Frances Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, NY, that travelled to the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, IL (2012); an exhibition of video art at the University Galleries at Illinois State University (2016); a restaging of performances by the Lone Wolf Recital Corps, Adkins’ revolving collective, at the Museum of Modern Art, NY (2016); Infinity is Always Less Than One at the ICA Miami (2018); Resounding at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation (2020); and shows at the Fisk University and the Frist Museum in Nashville (2020). Adkins was included in the Performa Biennial in 2013, the Whitney Biennial in 2014 and the Venice Biennale in 2015. Work by Adkins is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Studio Museum in Harlem, in New York; The Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C., the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Fine Arts San Francisco; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Tate Collection, UK, among others, and private collections worldwide. From 2000 until his death, Adkins was a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
Terry Adkins
Alanaryuk, from the series Nutjuitok (Polar Star) After Matthew Henson 1866, 2011
Digital print 25 x 32 in. (63.5 x 81.3 cm)
Terry Adkins
Akhenaten, 2013
Steel, glass, wood and ebony
63 x 54 x 18 in. (160 x 137.2 x 45.7 cm)
Terry Adkins
Darkwater Record, 2003 - 2008
porcelain, five Nakamichi 550 cassette recorders playing "Socialism and the American Negro" speech by W.E.B. Du Bois
31 x 12 x 14 inches (78.7 x 30.5 x 35.6 cm)
On top of the large pedestal the height is 73" (185.42 cm)
Terry Adkins
After Bonnaterre 97, 2013
gouache on botanical engraving
11 1/4 x 8 in. (28.6 x 20.3 cm)
frame: 13 3/4 x 10 1/8 x 1 1/4 in. (34.9 x 25.7 x 3.2 cm)
Terry Adkins
Untitled (Disk Print, Red), 2001
ink on paper made with metal music box disc
paper: 30 x 30 in. (76.2 x 76.2 cm)
frame: 33 1/4 x 33 1/4 x 1 in. (84.5 x 84.5 x 2.5 cm)
Terry Adkins
Marshall, 2013
wood-handled fruit harvester, chrome, blown glass, and velvet cushion
45 x 12 x 12 in. (114.3 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Terry Adkins
Prophet, 2010
Nautilus shells, silk parachute, rope, tape, plaster memory jug, silver tray, cabinet, and starfish
58 x 19 x 19 in. (147.3 x 48.3 x 48.3 cm)
Terry Adkins
Mvet Majestic II, 1989
wood and acrylic
overall: 80 x 36 x 2 in. (203.2 x 91.4 x 5.1 cm)
Terry Adkins
Audience (from Belted Bronze), 2007-08
28 framed drawings, 5 plastic milk crates and taxidermy peacock
each frame: 19 1/4 x 25 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (48.9 x 64.1 x 3.8 cm)
overall: 77 x 177 x 1 1/2 in. (195.6 x 449.6 x 3.8 cm)
Terry Adkins
Flumen Orationis (from The Principalities), 2012
stereoscopic digital video with sound
Duration time: 41:37 minutes
Edition of 5
Terry Adkins
Other Bloods (from The Principalities), 2012
drum, rope, and parachute
62 x 19 x 12 in. (157.5 x 48.3 x 30.5 cm)
Terry Adkins
Jupiter, 1994
wood and enamel
13 1/2 x 48 in. (34.3 x 121.9 cm)
Terry Adkins
Black Patti, c. 2007
unique digital print on paper
38 1/4 x 79 1/2 in. (97.2 x 201.9 cm)
frame: 42 x 83 1/4 x 2 1/4 in. (106.7 x 211.5 x 5.7 cm)
Installation view of Synapse (from Black Beethoven) (2004-2012) in Terry Adkins: Soldier Shepherd Prophet Martyr: Videos from 1998-2013, University Galleries of Illinois State University, 2016. Photo: Jason Judd.
Terry Adkins
Smoke Signal (from the Principalities), 2012
concrete, metal, plastic, leather
162 x 22 x 20 in.
Photo: Virginia Harold; Courtesy Pulitzer Arts Foundation
Terry Adkins
Mute (from the Belted Bronze), 2007-2011
digital black-and-white video, silent
22 min. 7 sec.
Terry Adkins
Spears with 3 Prints (detail), 2010
23 metal and wood spears, replicas, 3 framed black-and-white prints
dimensions variable
Terry Adkins
Miy Paluk 1866 (still), 2012
single-channel digital video with sound (originally presented as a three-channel video on vertical flat-screen monitors)
24:26 minutes
Installation view, 2014 Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2014. From left to right: Terry Adkins, Aviarium (Dickcissel), 2014; Terry Adkins, Aviarium (Mourning Dove), 2014; Terry Adkins, Aviarium (Seaside Sparrow), 2014; Terry Adkins, Aviarium (Grasshopper Sparrow), 2014; Terry Adkins, Aviarium (Broad-winged Hawk), 2014. Photo: Bill Orcutt; Courtesy the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Installation view, Terry Adkins: Infinity Is Always Less Than One, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, May 17 – Sept 23, 2018. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen Studio.
