FIAT
Shaw began making cards at the age of nine, inspired by Garbage Pail Kids, baseball cards, and Bikkuriman Devil vs. Angel seals. Small drawings have factored heavily in the artist’s practice ever since. The humble format is an ideal place to experiment; to do things that would be impracticable, superficial, or confusing at a larger scale; to wear other hats, other masks, even other artists; to document his studio practice in miniature, multiplicable ways. To date, the artist has created over 10,000 cards, packaged in annual editions. FIAT features drawings culled from hundreds of waxpacks, reminiscent of vintage trading cards. By packaging his drawings, the artist loses track of content in a literal way, creating a reserve of fungible artwork, modeled after the fiat currencies of banking reserves and the speculative excitement that emanates from an un-opened pack of collectible cards. To reinforce his loss of agency and the active role of a presumed collector, the artist removed himself from the curatorial process, conceded the framing, card-groupings, and display of FIAT to others. Shaw has exhibited widely, including at the Spring/Break Art Show, Salon Art + Design Fair, International Fine Arts and Antiques Dealers Show, International Art & Design Fair, the National Arts Club, as well as a solo exhibition at the Fraunces Tavern Museum in lower Manhattan. In addition to painting and drawing, Shaw designs furniture under the brand LYVETH. His writings have appeared in Aufgabe, Zingmagazine, SpringGun Press, Lilies and Cannonball Review, and elsewhere.
Website www.swschool.org/
