Creator
Phil Shaw.
Title
Friction 2.
Date
2008.
Description
Eight-color pigment-based archival print on Hahnemuhle paper, 46 x 20 in. No. 38/40.
There is not much point in collecting unless it is for pure enjoyment. I particularly enjoy whimsy, especially when rooted in wit. Phil Shaw’s Friction 2 fits the bill: shelves of books so closely packed that the titles and authors have “rubbed off” on each other. The artist’s process is so realistic that you think it’s photographs of actual spines, only to find that he switched words in titles and mixed names for some unlikely pairings: The Boys from Wakefield by Ira Goldsmith next to The Vicar of Brazil by Oliver Levin. Its significance for me? The humor pushes the envelope of what is real or assumed to be real; one needs to take a closer look in order to understand.
There is not much point in collecting unless it is for pure enjoyment. I particularly enjoy whimsy, especially when rooted in wit. Phil Shaw’s Friction 2 fits the bill: shelves of books so closely packed that the titles and authors have “rubbed off” on each other. The artist’s process is so realistic that you think it’s photographs of actual spines, only to find that he switched words in titles and mixed names for some unlikely pairings: The Boys from Wakefield by Ira Goldsmith next to The Vicar of Brazil by Oliver Levin. Its significance for me? The humor pushes the envelope of what is real or assumed to be real; one needs to take a closer look in order to understand.
Source
Szilvia Szmuk-Tanenbaum