Jim Shaw (American, b. 1952) Narcissus

Jim Shaw (American, b. 1952)

Narcissus, from the series My Mirage
Unsigned.
Plastic on mirror, 17 x 14 in. (43.2 x 35.5 cm),framed.
Condition: Surface grime.

Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by the current owner in 1988.

Exhibitions: LA Hot and Cool: Pioneers, Bank of Boston Art Gallery/MIT List Visual Art Center, Cambridge, November 23, 1987-January 15, 1988.

N.B. Jim Shaw worked on the series My Mirage from 1986 through 1991, creating a group of 170 interconnected works of art in a variety of media, each of which tells part of the story of a character named Billy. My Mirage follows Billy, a white, middle-class male, from childhood onward as he navigates the 1960s and 1970s American counterculture. Shaw organized the works into chapters and unified the project by maintaining a standard size of 17 x 14 inches for each work. The result is a visual narrative, structured in the form of a coming-of-age novel; however, the pieces were exhibited about thirty at a time, before being sold individually. Though attempts have been made to reunite the series, all 170 works have never been included together in the same exhibition.