Jason Rhoades: Illastrations

A glimpse inside the mind of Jason Rhoades, through a facsimile edition of the visionary artist’s sketchbook

Illastrations is a facsimile of an undated sketchbook of drawings by Jason Rhoades that he and his wife, the artist Rachel Khedoori, gifted to their friend and patron Iwan Wirth. A leading figure of the 1990s international art world, Rhoades was a world builder, an outlier. Like his art, the book is a dynamic construction designed to systematically explore and communicate life’s big questions. It serves as a guide to Rhoades’s visionary work: a collection of didactic cartoons, organized by keyword, that illustrate key concepts, materials, works of art, and personal references, including “abstraction,” “curator,” “donut,” “Marcel Duchamp,” “unfair.” Presented in a slipcase and bound as what feels like an art supply sketchbook, Illastrations is an object to treasure, encapsulating the playfulness of a Californian cowboy who never relinquished his sense of punk practicality.