Jason Rhoades: Illastrations

Inside the art and mind of Jason Rhoades, through a facsimile edition of the visionary artist's sketchbook

The American installation artist Jason Rhoades (1965–2006) was a leading figure of the 1990s international art world: a world builder, an outsider, a California cowboy who never relinquished his sense of rural practicality or punk sense of humor. His art—which took America as its imaginative subject—is a dynamic construction, designed to systematically explore and communicate life’s big questions. Illastrations is a facsimile of an undated sketchbook of Rhoades’ drawings, serving as a guide to Rhoades’ visionary work: a collection of didactic cartoons, organized by keyword, that illustrate key concepts, materials, works of art and personal references (abstraction, curator, donut, Marcel Duchamp, etc.). Originally given as a gift by Rhoades and his wife, the artist Rachel Khedoori, to their friend and patron Iwan Wirth, Illastrations encapsulates the spirit of generosity with which Rhoades shared his greatest gift, his art.