Keep Away From the Window, 2014

Triple Canopy is pleased to announce a new edition by artist Robert Gober, published on the occasion of the magazine’s upcoming benefit honoring novelist, short-story writer, and critic Lynne Tillman. Keep Away From the Window (2014) is a handmade book with cast glass. Gober, who came to prominence in the mid-1980s, makes meticulously crafted sculptures which often refer to domestic objects and personal encounters. Keep Away From the Window is titled after a snapshot taken by Gober of a sign hung on a window near his studio; the photograph is included on the front and on the inside of the edition. Gober has encased the neighborhood scene in the intimate form of a book, creating an object that appears to be simple until the viewer holds and opens it and is drawn closer to the window.

Tillman explains how the edition came about: “Bob told me he wanted to make a book-like sculpture. He had, we remembered, also supplied the cover image for my last novel, American Genius, A Comedy. I suggested having a block instead of paper or pages. Bob said, How about glass? Terrific, I thought. He showed me a photo he’d taken of a window not far from his studio, with a sign in it: ‘Keep away from the window!!!’ I loved it, and we both wanted it on the cover. From my point of view, there wasn’t a need for a title, because that was a great one. Then it was decided that a variation of that image would appear on the back inside cover, behind the glass.”

Robert Gober lives in New York. A major retrospective of his work, The Heart Is Not a Metaphor, is on view at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, until January 18, 2015. Gober represented the United States at the 2001 Venice Biennale and has had solo exhibitions at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Serpentine Gallery, London; and the Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel. In 2007 his work was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Schaulager, Basel.

Special thanks to Matthew Marks Gallery for its generous support.