The artist Jack Milroy has launched a new solo exhibition titled 'Bibliophilia' at Shapero Modern in London, featuring his signature 3D cut-out artworks. The 87-year-old artist transforms books and everyday objects, such as sardine tins, into intricate sculptures where illustrated figures like birds and fish appear to escape their physical confines. The show marks Milroy's first collaboration with the gallery, which is uniquely situated beneath an antiquarian bookshop, providing a thematic contrast between preserved rare volumes and Milroy’s "vandalised" artistic interpretations.
This exhibition highlights the enduring relevance of tactile, physical media in an increasingly digital age, specifically reflecting on the changing role of the book as a vessel for knowledge. By repurposing medical manuals and commercial packaging into joyful, surrealist-inspired compositions, Milroy continues a 60-year career of challenging the boundaries between two-dimensional illustration and three-dimensional sculpture. The collection serves as a whimsical counter-narrative to contemporary art's often somber themes, focusing instead on visual pleasure and the transformative power of the found object.