I read something in City magazine’s latest issue about how Tom Sachs (and an army of eleven) is working on building a replica of the vehicle used in the Apollo 11 mission. This sculpture will debut at the Gagosian gallery in Beverly Hills in September. It made me remember the time I briefly met him at a book signing at The NY Art Book Fair last year. He asked me what I wanted him to draw in my book and I said to surprise me. I love what he drew-see below. The book Nutsy’s was published on the occasion of his major installation at the Deutsche Guggenheim in 2003. The book chronicles a bunch of Tom’s project including my very favorite Nutsy’s McDonald’s. Tom created a mobile McDonalds-”A cook operates the freezer, refrigerator, grill and friolator, while the cashier takes money, dispenses soda, and prints the ass-printouts in which he wraps burgers.” You can see a video demonstration of this McDonalds’s machine here. It’s pretty amazing. The book also has pictures and descriptions of his project Unité a model of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’ Habitation in Marseilles- with materials listed as foam core and hot glue and dimensions as 207×86x38″. (Here’s a movie demo of the craziness.) It’s incredible- I wish I had seen it in person. There is a photo in the book of a wall in the studio titled Injuries where people signed and dated papers and stained them with the blood they shed working on the project. Tom has a great website with photos of projects and lots of his movies-I really like this one too. Tom has quite a few books out on his work but this one is a good size and has a lot of his best projects. Pick up a copy here.

© Julia Rothman 2007