Tom Sachs shapes a self-portrait through things, found and fabricated
![The Cabinet, 2014, mixed media](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ATfi4MMJyEAkPRwkTCSvpm-415-80.jpg)
Objects that arouse, titillate and terrify are all locked up in Tom Sachs’ Wunderkammern – cabinets of curiosity the artist has constructed for an exhibition at Sperone Westwater, ‘Objects of Devotion’. Sachs is an artist who, whether critical or not, appreciates stuff as stuff, whether ubiquitous or rare. He’s long been obsessed with remaking things: from Sony cameras to NASA memorabilia and his sister’s Barbie dolls, creating irresistible sculptures in miniature and on a large-scale, fashioned from his favoured materials such as duct tape, plywood, epoxy resin and foamcore.
Inspired by the exoticism and eroticism of cabinets of curiosities that date back to the Renaissance, Sachs’ own ‘theatre of the world’, The Cabinet (2014), is at first glance full of weapons and tools – but each has a name, referring to someone who affected the artist, from his mother to the Supreme Court. Other cabinets collect more autobiographical objects from the artist’s life, a self-portrait through things, found and fabricated: the most recent cabinet work in the exhibition, Rockeths, (2017), could be a compact rendition of the artist’s studio.
Rockeths, 2017, mixed media
From the cabinets, the exhibition meanders into similar themes on collecting, such as Mars Rocks (2012), individual ‘Mars’ rocks, gathered by Sachs’ studio team for his 2012 installation Space Program 2.0: MARS, and Synthetic Mars Rocks (2016). Neatly organised on their shelves, these will satisfy anyone with OCD tendencies.
From outer space to up-close, in a more recent work, McMasterbation, (2016), Sachs takes what is apparently the least sexiest object, the most comprehensive hardware catalogue in circulation, and highlights its recurrent phallic and vaginal shapes. He relates this analogy to his own use, ‘drooling over this bible of tooling’.
‘Objects of Devotion’ coincides with a touring museum survey on Sachs, opened at Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, on 16 September.
MESA (Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly), 2007-2012, mixed media.
Moon Rock Box: Nevada, 2008-2009, mixed media.
Choad, 2017, mixed media.
INFORMATION
‘Objects of Devotion’ is on view until 28 October. For more information, visit the Sperone Westwater website
ADDRESS
Sperone Westwater
257 Bowery
New York
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Charlotte Jansen is a journalist and the author of two books on photography, Girl on Girl (2017) and Photography Now (2021). She is commissioning editor at Elephant magazine and has written on contemporary art and culture for The Guardian, the Financial Times, ELLE, the British Journal of Photography, Frieze and Artsy. Jansen is also presenter of Dior Talks podcast series, The Female Gaze.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Alexander May, founder of LA studio Sized, on the joys of creative polymathy
Creative director Alexander May tells us of the multidisciplinary approach that drives his LA studio Sized and its offspring, a 5,000 sq ft event space and an exhibition series
By Hannah Silver Published
-
50 of America’s top creatives, photographed by Inez & Vinoodh
Photographed exclusively for Wallpaper* by Inez & Vinoodh, we present a portfolio of 50 creatives driving the current discourse on American culture and its dynamic evolution
By Dan Howarth Published
-
Nona Faustine confronts the past in New York
Artist Nona Faustine reframes New York's colonial past in an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Harlem-born artist Tschabalala Self’s colourful ode to the landscape of her childhood
Tschabalala Self’s new show at Finland's Espoo Museum of Modern Art evokes memories of her upbringing, in vibrant multi-dimensional vignettes
By Millen Brown-Ewens Published
-
How the west won: Ivan McClellan is amplifying the intrepid beauty of Black cowboy culture
In his new book, 'Eight Seconds: Black Cowboy Culture', Ivan McClellan draws us into the world of Black rodeo. Wallpaper* meets the photographer ahead of his Juneteenth Rodeo
By Tracy Kawalik Published
-
Casa Bosques’ queer-themed book curation comes to New York’s East Village
In Pride Month 2024, Casa Bosques’ pop-up bookstore in The Standard hotel, East Village, offers a stylish haven for literary mavens
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Wanås Konst sculpture park merges art and nature in Sweden
Wanås Konst’s latest exhibition, 'The Ocean in the Forest', unites land and sea with watery-inspired art in the park’s woodland setting
By Alice Godwin Published
-
Pino Pascali’s brief and brilliant life celebrated at Fondazione Prada
Milan’s Fondazione Prada honours Italian artist Pino Pascali, dedicating four of its expansive main show spaces to an exhibition of his work
By Kasia Maciejowska Published