Richard Shaw: A Different Kind of Real is the first monograph devoted to the career of the internationally recognized master of trompe l'oeil ceramic sculpture. His meticulously crafted ceramic works replicate everyday objects such as books, playing cards, and tools with uncanny realism. Through these carefully assembled compositions, Shaw challenges viewers to reconsider the boundaries between appearance and authenticity. He has developed an astonishing array of techniques, including perfectly cast porcelain objects and overglaze transfer decals. By combining the commonplace with the whimsical, the humorous with the mundane, Shaw captures the poetic and the surreal with the sensibility of a comedian. Richard Shaw has been a leading ceramics innovator for more than five decades. His witty, lifelike compositions often resemble assemblages or collections of everyday objects. Shaw has continually refined his exacting techniques in pottery, porcelain casting, and overlay transfer decals.

Shaw is a key figure in the California Clay Movement that included Peter Voulkos, Robert Arneson, Ron Nagle, Viola Frey and Manuel Neri. His work is held in numerous international collections such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo; the Stedelijk Museum; and the Whitney Museum of American Art.