Tom Sachs Spaceships

The most recent body of work by the popular American artist to focus on his highly inventive interpretation of space travel, published for the first time.

Published to accompany exhibitions simultaneously in New York and Palm Beach, the book follows the interdisciplinary show that centers around the theme of spaceships by the artist Tom Sachs (b. 1966), both with representations of spaceships and rockets in sculptural and painted forms, and more indirect references that relate either formally or conceptually to the idea of the spaceship in our society. A sculpture of a Hoover vacuum suggests the vacuum of space; a bricolage rendition of Sachs’ favorite record player recalls the form of a spaceship; and a work relating to the Titanic suggests the idea of transporting between realms. Other works more directly represent spaceships and relate to Sachs’ space program, which has been of central importance to his work over the past decade and a half.

The book follows Sachs’ immersive, participatory installations on the theme of space, most recently at the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg. Last August, Sachs launched his Rocket Factory, a genre-defying project that brought NFTs into the physical realm by launching fully assembled replicas of NFT rockets (one of which took place at LACMA in 2021) and then making paintings after component and assembled rockets.

Thomas E. Crow is Rosalie Solow Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.