Artist Tom Sachs says that "Going to the moon was the best art project of the twentieth century." So he made it into an art installation. Space Program, on view for another two weeks at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills, is an incredibly detailed recreation (and reimagination) of a lunar module, control room, astronaut suits, and the moonshot experience. Tom even wore the classic 60s NASA scientist "uniform" of a short-sleeved white dress shirt and tie. Supertouch and BB pal Tim Biskup were at the preview a couple of weeks ago where they were thrilled by a full performance and demonstration of the exhibit. From Supertouch:
Featuring a life-sized replica of the Apollo 11 moon lander, mission control, and NASA's uniform room, all customized to his personal specifications using ordinary hardware store materials (including weaponry and hard-liquor delivery systems), the enormous display was the must-see big bang that announced LA's fall art season.
From the Gagosian Gallery press release:
For more than a decade Sachs has pondered the homespun technical ingenuity and romance with the unknown that brought America the Apollo program. Experimenting with models of varying scale ( Lunar Module (1:18), 1999; Crawler, 2003) has culminated in the realization of his own life-size SPACE PROGRAM. Pirating the milestone in collective memory when man took his first walk on the moon, Sachs reconstructs its key components, built to scale his way. By recollecting this historic event as a custom-made experience from the free domain of public imagination, he renders it totally in and of our time, charged by a vigorous artistic idiom that is ambivalent to the core. In a new twist on his shameless cannibalizing of corporate identity, Sachs now has the giants of high-style branding – Nike, Prada, and the like – working for him to produce items (lab coats, space boots) for the detailed inventory of his funky space odyssey.
Link to Supertouch post, Link to Gagosian gallery
Previously on BB:
• Couture sculpture mashups Link
