this is really nothing.

FvF Item of the Week: Trompe l’oeil bookshelf by Marcus Gaab

We had to look twice at this intriguing bookshelf in Christiane Bördner and Marcus Gaab’s home on Freunde von Freunden.

In actuality it is a high resolution picture of a bookshelf that was photographed by Marcus and printed on a 1:1 scale. It is so detailed you can even read the booktitles. Holding its place on the same wall for a decade, it has surprised three cleaning ladies over the years!

The work is one of a series of twelve trompe l’oeil book shelf motifs that arose from Marcus’ social studies that involved surveying modern middle class intellectuals and questioning why people retain books they have already read.