The following book was made on the occasion of Tom Sachs’s seventh solo exhibition in the Marais Gallery titled American Handmade Paintings. Tom Sachs uses the American landscape as iconography for his paintings and emphasizes the physical labor involved in their making. Highlighting two of Sachs’ distinct techniques in his practice – pyrography and marquetry – the images in the book capture the themes of consumerism, corporate identity, cultural imperialism, technological progress, identity and loss, and the relationship between survival and destruction. The document paintings include that of the Goodwill logo, a McDonald’s sign in Chinese, the famous Scotch tape package, and the American flag. The book encompasses modern icons that showcase the successes and failures of the American experience and the ambiguities and contradictions inherent in its society and culture.