Tom Sachs

Tom Sachs turns 56 today. 

Tom Sachs | Chess Set

Tom Sachs
Chess Set
New York City, USA: Self-published, 2010
8.3 × 33 × 26.7 cm.
Edition of 15 signed, numbered and dated copies

Handmade at the artist's studio from plastic, steel, magnets, printed cardboard and duct tape.

Last July, edition number 3/15 sold for $8750 US.

Tom Sachs | Playboy Space Program Official Document

Tom Sachs
Playboy Space Program Official Document
New York City, USA: Self-published, 2012
25.4 × 21.6 cm.
Edition of 100 signed and numbered copies

Hand-painted and stencilled vintage 1970's Playboy Magazines.

Tom Sachs | McDonald Ltd. Plate

Tom Sachs
McDonald Ltd. Plate
Paris, France: Ligne Blanche, 2014
27 cm diameter (large), 21 cm. diameter (small)
Edition size unknown

Porcelain plate featuring an image of the top of a McDonald's coffee cup.

Available here, for $150 US.

Tom Sachs on Frank Ocean collaboration

http://pitchfork.com/news/67699-tom-sachs-explains-frank-oceans-endless-stairway-to-heaven/

Harley Spiller and Mmuseumm

This is Harley Spiller, and he has more menus than you.

Also known as Inspector Collector, he has amassed record-breaking collections of a variety of items (spoons, autographs, chopsticks, take-out boxes, flyers, postcards, shopping lists), most of which have no actual financial value. The Harley Spiller Menu Collection consists of more than 10,000 items, spanning predominantly from 1981 to 2009. The collection totals 40 linear feet and has been recognized by Guinness as the world's largest. If ever challenged, he claims he will happily relinquish the title rather than re-count.

We saw him give a presentation on counterfeit and altered currency last Sunday. It was hosted in an alley, in front of mmuseumm - a 60 square foot gallery space housed in an abandoned Tribeca freight elevator. A garage door opens at street level to reveal a decked out miniscule museum. The artifacts and found objects are typically on loan from hobbyists and artists, and have included items from Californian prisons, newsstand paper weights, paper left behind in photocopier machines, and discarded food photography. The prisoner inventions (curated by Baron Von Fancy) ranged from artworks carved with a pencil out of soap, to functional items like a pair of dice made from bread. The collection of pages left in copiers comes from the archives of artist Leah Singer and the food photography, collected by Alexandra Eaton, was a series of rejected shots for a Cambodian menu. Last year Tom Sachs presented 'moon rocks'.

Mmuseumm's gift shop consists of three shelves, and its cafeteria is a pot of coffee.

The display when we visited last week included bullet proof Disney backpacks, personal artifacts from Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein, New York tip jars, and a surprisingly diverse collection of fake vomit from around the world.

It's an incredible space, and the talk (though we had to leave half-way through, to catch our flight) was a highlight of the trip.

Visit their website here: http://mmuseumm.com.

American Bricolage

(Todd Alden, ed)
American Bricolage
New York, USA: Sperone Westwater Gallery, 2000
unpaginated, 27 x 21 cm., paperback, ringbound
Edition of 875 numbered copies


Assembled by curator Todd Alden (whose other projects include Collector's Shit and the traveling Sonic Youth exhibition Sonic Matters, Sonic Kollaborations) this group exhibition catalogue features contributions from Hope Atherton, Chris Burden, Greg Colson, Wim Delvoye, Tom Friedman, Tim Hawkinson, Toland Grinnell, Jon Kessler, Tom Sachs, and Richard Wentworth. The exhibition, co-curated by Alden and David Leiber, was held at Sperone Westwater, New York, from November 2nd to December 22nd, 2000.

Each copy is somewhat unique, hand assembled with collaged front and back covers (duct taped) by Tom Sachs. The title is bound in cardboard, and contains 10 plastic sleeves, each with documentation by a different artist. A front cover pocket contains a booklet with a text by Alden, the back cover includes a stapled illustrated checklist and 2 business cards, 1 for Sachs, 1 for the gallery and attached to the verso is a sealed plastic "invoice/packing list" pouch. Other contents include artists' drawings, faxes and ephemera, including a reproduction of Wim Delvoye's hotel stationary lipstick asshole prints.

Available at Printed Matter for $175, here, from the publisher for $150, here and on Ebay for $425, here. The Ebay copy is signed by Tom Sachs.

Tom Sachs | Nuke The Swiss

Tom Sachs
Nuke The Swiss
Self-published, 1996
4 x 4 inches
Vinyl sticker