A selection from our personal bookshelf: {ths} Thomas Schostok – Soft Suck | 2020
self-published
244 pages
11,5 x 18 cm
English
Buy the copy here
In HARD BLOW, which represented {ths}’s previous creating between the years 2001-2008, the presentation of the artwork was raw and far from the usual presentation of art in books. No text, no description or labeling of the images, no fucking “artist statement”. Images were cropped, ripped from the concept of chronology. Imagine looking at art in a museum, but being only 11 inches away from the artwork. Only a crop of the art – what you are missing is the whole picture. Just quotes from his artworks and his gluebooks, without meaning, if you don’t see the whole picture? You tell me!
What we can definitely note is the fact that this almost absurd presentation of his works created a certain tension.
13 years after HARD BLOW now comes SOFT SUCK. And again it is a raw compilation (chopped art) of his works, this time in the subsequent years between 2009 – 2020. The concept remains the same: no texts, no descriptions, and now we understand that this is exactly the “artist statement” that many people need to get an idea of the artist. The process of creating is the “artist statement”, it’s nothing but details. Unlike in HARD BLOW, however, here we see his art mostly as a whole picture, even though no effort was made to create a typical boring art book with a nice layout. The art is and always will be the layout, and the viewer is left longing for the habit. {ths} would do the devil and take an interest in the needs of its clientele, wouldn’t he? (from editor)
