How we get our ‘stuff’—the everyday objects that we dream about and acquire and use—is deeply part of who we are. The Sears and Roebuck mail order catalog of the early 20th century was an encyclopedia of that ‘stuff’, its pages full of everything a growing country could desire. The story of the Abington Art Center is uniquely tied to that American company through the building’s original owner Lessing Rosenwald, heir to the Sears fortune. 

The frottage installation hung in the Book Room gallery takes its inspiration from wallpaper, fireplace, and artwork that was available for purchase in the catalogs of that era, and brings the ghosts of the mass consumer into the space. The paintings included in ‘Wish Book’ reference just a portion of the vast selection of objects available particularly in the early decades of the catalog, from tools and clothing to guns and bibles. While what we dream about may have changed, but desire itself is always present, an interior catalog of wishes fulfilled and unfulfilled.