SPIT SCRATCH SMILE

By Charlie Rubin

Employing a playful and thought provoking use of sequencing, materials and layout that is unmistakably Charlie’s, SPIT, SCRATCH, SMILE is a dive into one artist’s vision. The book comprises work made by Rubin spanning from the past six years and punctuated by two major U.S. Presidential election cycles.

This project explores ideas of escapism, creating new histories, and the post-instagram void. A group of friends become a timeless tribe. A spam email transforms into a time capsule. Rubin’s compositions are all-enveloping, subverting seemingly mundane scenes and found materials—both physical and digital—with his signature interventions. Rather than seeking out the decisive moment, Rubin creates it using layers of repeated photographic forms or graffiti-like marks on top of his archive of images and ephemera. Rubin’s language breaks through the infinite scroll as a scratch-off sticker reveals other secret images further remixing a scene of debris.

8.5" x 11.5", Offset printed, Perfect bound with Risograph printed insert and custom scratch-off stickers

Published by Charlie Rubin in 2021

Brooklyn, NY