Every Saturday, the bookshop Shelf (3-7-4 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) runs a series of recommended books. This time, we asked people to tell us which book (actually two books) they most highly recommend from the books published in 2017 as the "2017 Book of the Year."






■ "Westtexaspsychosculptured" and "Road" by Christopher Wool

Christopher Wool, undoubtedly one of the top contemporary artists in both talent and popularity, has released his first artist book of photographs in a long time. This is probably his first photo book since 2003's "East Broadway Breakdown."

What's more, the two books were released almost simultaneously as a pair; one of them, "Westtexaspsychosculpture," is made up of photographs taken in and around Marfa, West Texas, between 2008 and 2017. In the almost desert-like landscape, Christopher Wool's lens captures abandoned backyard materials, stray dogs, unfinished crafts, and strange structures of unknown purpose, all of which seem like objets d'art works detached from their original context.




The other book, "Road," is a series of photographs of deserted dirt roads taken between 2015 and 2017. These books convey the feeling of a road trip, traveling endlessly through barren land under the bright sun, including dusty gravel roads, roads with deep tire tracks, roads covered with bushes, and roads widened by car tire tracks. Each book is limited to 1,200 copies. Signed.