If he were in charge of Mission Control

New York-based Tom Sachs has gained considerable recognition for his humorous, large-scale installations that filter well-known symbols of power through the lens of popular brand names and products. But for “Space Program” -- his West Coast debut that has one week left at the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills -- the 41-year-old artist turned his sights on the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, which he says “encourages us to think about ideas concerning the preservation of our species.”

The centerpiece is a full-sized, 24-foot-tall landing module, which, in typical Sachsian fashion, is a perfect likeness rendered in roughshod building materials and a DIY aesthetic. There’s also a Mission Control in an adjacent gallery, where viewers can not only watch live video feeds from the landing module (and of the viewers who are allowed to climb inside) but also from the miniatures and sculptures scattered about the space.

“I’ve constructed other sculptures based on some of NASA’s designs,” says Sachs, who previously worked for architect Frank Gehry. “But with this I really wanted to explore the notion of an entire system, where everything is inextricably linked together.”

Though decidedly less subversive than some of Sachs’ previous pop cultural monuments, such as his “Chanel Guillotine,” “Prada Deathcamp” or “Hermes Hand Grenade,” “Space Program” is notable because it includes work by other well-known designers. Prada created the lab coats, Nike produced the space boots and Jack Spade designed some of the clothing for Mission Control. “But I would say that NASA is the ultimate status brand,” says Sachs. “Everything they make is always of the absolutely highest quality -- because it has to be.”

-- Paul Young

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Tom Sachs, “Space Program,” through Wednesday, Gagosian Gallery, 456 N. Camden Drive, Beverly Hills. (310) 271-9400, www.gagosian.com.