Tom Sachs

On April 6, Fondazione Prada inaugurated a show dedicated to the American artist Tom Sachs. The exhibition, which will remain open from 6 April to 15 June 2006, presents works made from 1995 on, and two large installations conceived specially for the 1,500 square metres of the Fondazione space in Via Fogazzaro 36 in Milan.
The first installation, The Island (2006), is a large-scale (1:7; maximum height 4.7 m) reconstruction of the command area on the bridge of an aircraft carrier, called the ?island?, combining the control tower and other important ship functions. Sachs took his inspiration from the first and most important American aircraft carrier to run on nuclear power, Enterprise CVN 65. The Island is fully equipped with working radar, monitor, and radio devices, and television cameras; the cabin is furnished with everyday necessities and has two berths, a cabinet stocked with cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, and a toilet, in addition to a series of things needed for the maintenance of the ?island?.
For the other installation, Balaenoptera Musculus (2006), a life-sized reconstruction of an 18- metre long blue whale, Tom Sachs took his inspiration from the whale model hanging in the ocean life hall at the American Museum of Natural History, in New York. The whale, which, for its size, Sachs calls ?adolescent?, is made in foam core, cardboard, and white polyurethane foam, a material often used or architectural models. More than four months were needed to complete the entire structure and cover it with foam core sheeting laminated with hot silicon glue.
The third work, on show for the first time at the Fondazione Prada space, Untitled (1989 Chevy Caprice), 2006, is a police car that Sachs personalized with writing and equipped with a set of burglary tools.
Alongside the three big works, a series of other works is on display: five rifles made between 1994 and 2004, built with recycled materials and fully functioning, complete with safety catch;
Delinquency Chamber , a room endowed with every comfort, to which one can retreat to drink, smoke, sit down and play the videogame ?Grand Theft Auto?, a violent and realistic game set in the city of ?Los Santos?: inside are a refrigerator, a stereo system, a ventilation system to extract the smoke, and a waste bin; Untitled (McDonald?s Mop Bucket), 2003, made of foam core, painstakingly reproduces the bucket and mop ringer used for cleaning the floors of public spaces, while Electrolux (1999, foam core) is a replica of a vacuum cleaner. The artist, using a term from the musical world, calls these last two works ?dubs?: objects that really exist and are widely used, recreated by hand, often using recycled materials.