Leafing through British photographer Chris Shaw’s new photobook feels like entering a wormhole. Yucca trees flare like starburst galaxies and cacti radiate with an unearthly aura – Joshua Tree’s arid landscape seems as alien and foreign as the surface of Mars.
Published by London-based Adad Books, Horizon Icons stems from a six-week long artist residency Shaw undertook in the middle of the Californian desert in the summer of 2013. ‘I took all the photos between 6am–8am; after that it was too hot. The sun would come over the horizon like an arc light and suddenly it was too bright – too light,’ the photographer explains.
Shaw would print for three hours every evening with an enlarger he’d shipped in, setting up a makeshift darkroom in the washroom of the rental. ‘It was not an exact science, and the stains and fogging of a homemade darkroom were part of the magic,’ he adds. ‘Finally, at about 10pm, I would finish, go outside and get in the hot tub and look up at the stars.'
The Liverpool-born photographer is seemingly alone in the sprawling national park – save for his subjects (and alien companions), which take on a life of their own in his photographs. Joshua Tree, normally a rich tapestry of colour, is imagined as a far-flung and otherworldly terrain, while the surrealism of its geological features become amplified by a powerful flash in this series of gritty, monochromatic images.
Artist and singer Alison Mosshart introduces the book with a lyrical monologue, penned while driving through Joshua Tree (‘Romantic bitch bastard desert is as hard as it comes. But it’s love,’ she muses). And it’s a fitting preface to Shaw’s rough and ready images, characterised by their bleeding edges, fingerprint marks, off-kilter frames and titles scrawled in thick black pen.
In Horizon Icons (which he dubs the ‘Californian counterpoint’ to Weeds of Wallasey), Shaw's images take on an almost photogram-like quality, as though he has pressed his desert specimens onto photographic paper and exposed them directly. Shaw gets beneath the surface of Joshua Tree, casting the desert in a whole new light.
Shaw’s rough and ready images are characterised by their bleeding edges, fingerprint marks, off-kilter frames and titles scrawled in thick black pen
Pictured left: Horizon Icon. Right: Looking Over My Shoulder
Yucca trees and cacti are illuminated by a powerful flash. Pictured left: They All Came Here. Right: There Is No Place Like This Place Anywhere Near This Place
The book stems from a six-week long artist residency Shaw undertook in the middle of the Californian desert in the summer of 2013. Left: Bible School Boot Camp. Right: Still of the Night
Shaw is is seemingly alone in the sprawling national park – save for his subjects, which take on a life of their own in his photograph
Left: Self Will Run Riot. Right: Ambient Light From Windmills Not
INFORMATION
Published by Adad Books, £32, edition of 500. For more information, visit the publisher’s website
-
A new Oxford Street pop-up celebrates IKEA's blue bagsIKEA's iconic blue bag gets its own pop-up concept store, the 'Hus of Frakta'.
-
Audemars Piguet and Kaws have created the Royal Oak Concept watch we didn't know we neededThe Audemars Piguet x Kaws Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon 'Companion' is slick wrist-worn art
-
A friendly rivalry coloured by kinship: Wendy Maruyama and Tom Loeser on their two-artist show'I wanted to make furniture, just not traditional furniture, but weird furniture,' says Wendy Maruyama on ‘Colorama’, a two-artist show presented at design gallery Superhouse (until 11 January 2025)
-
Discover Eve Arnold’s intimate unseen images of Marilyn Monroe‘Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold’, published by ACC Art Books, is a personal portrayal of an icon
-
10 books culture editor Hannah Silver recommends this winterLacking inspiration over what to read next? Wallpaper* culture editor, Hannah Silver, shares her favourite books
-
‘Gas Tank City’, a new monograph by Andrew Holmes, is a photorealist eye on the American West‘Gas Tank City’ chronicles the artist’s journey across truck-stop America, creating meticulous drawings of fleeting moments
-
'I’m So Happy You Are Here': discover the work of Japanese women photographersSubtitled ‘Japanese Women Photographers from the 1950s to Now’, this new monograph from Aperture is a fascinating insight into a critically overlooked body of work
-
Intimacy, violence and the uncanny: Joanna Piotrowska in PhiladelphiaArtist and photographer Joanna Piotrowska stages surreal scenes at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania
-
First look: Sphere’s new exterior artwork draws on a need for human connectionWallpaper* talks to Tom Hingston about his latest large-scale project – designing for the Exosphere
-
Marc Hom reframes traditional portraiture in Cooperstown, NY‘Marc Hom: Re-Framed’ has taken over the grounds of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, planting Samuel L Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow and more ‘personalities of the world’ into the landscape
-
Alexander May, founder of LA studio Sized, on the joys of creative polymathyCreative director Alexander May tells us of the multidisciplinary approach that drives his LA studio Sized and its offspring, a 5,000 sq ft event space and an exhibition series
