Caboose continues Kim Adams’ exploration of miniature worlds and exemplifies his long-term fascination with model building. Nine new works re-imagine train cabooses in ordinary, yet impossible realities. Adams’ model cabooses idle on small islands of train tracks amidst garages, gardens and parking lots. Most have cranes attached to their roofs, as if they were the sites of new condominium developments. Yet any people depicted in these curious worlds are occupied in mundane activities such as yard work or cycling and seem unaware that such strange occurrences surround them.
The caboose originally was the last car found at the end of a freight train, and functioned as living quarters for the train’s crew members. Since the 1980s, improved railway technology has rendered cabooses obsolete and consequently most have disappeared from use. Adams has re-imagined the caboose with new domestic life whilst commenting on their iconic status reminiscent of a previous era of rail transport and lifestyle.
Within the past year, Kim Adams has been honoured with a 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the 2012 Gershon Iskowitz Prize from the Art Gallery of Ontario. In addition to an extensive international exhibition history, Museum London recently presented a survey exhibition of Adams’ work entitled One for the Road. Other solo exhibitions include the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Power Plant, Oakville Galleries, Musée d’art contemporain, and Centraal Museum in Utrecht, Netherlands. Adams’ work is featured in numerous private and public collections, including National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, Vancouver Art Gallery, Musée d’art contemporain, and Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon. Adams is currently based between Toronto and Grand Valley, Ontario.
  
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