An exploration of text-based art curated by Norm Magnusson
March 5 - April 10, 2016
WFG Gallery, Woodstock, NY
31 mill hill road • woodstock, new york 12498
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Robert Brush
Jacinta Bunnell
Melissa Cohen
Erika deVries
Keetra Dean Dixon
Mary Anne Erickson
Clare Finin
Isabella Giancarlo
Alex Gingrow
Dan Goldman
Jim Granger
Thomas Huber
Norm Magnusson
Paul McMahon
Franc Palaia
Molly Rausch
Carla Rozman
Sparrow
Mariya Sultan
WHAT IS TEXT BASED ART?
WHAT IS NOT TEXT BASED ART?
The complete exhibition can be seen just below this section.
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| Robert Indiana's iconic "LOVE" sculpture a cast facsimile will be in the exhibition |
IN SEARCH OF SOME GUIDELINES
Mostly, when we engage with text, it's in the form of signage or advertising or books or magazines, or whatnot, but once in a while, it's in the form of art. Text-based art. A genre that has been around for a long time but has really taken off in the last decade or so.
S0 . . . what is text-based art? Is it simply art with words in it? Is it art where the text (words or numbers) is a central conceptual element or a central compositional or design element? Both? Either?
In the course of pulling together this exhibition, I was consistently confounded by trying to decide whether certain pieces of art should be categorized as text-based or not. And I kept coming back to that line from US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, who famously noted (referring to pornography) that, while he couldn't define it, "he knew it when he saw it." Well, with this show, my goal quickly became "to define it." Here's a start:
#1: The concept of the artwork needs to be conveyed (primarily or exclusively) via text, and, conversely, without the text, the piece is completely different.
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| Alex Gingrow "As an artist you always make work from what's around you |
So then, is a poem a piece of text-based art? Why not? Well, most poems, while designed to be evocative with their words, are simply not attempting to have a visual impact. So maybe that brings us to a second criteria for something to be defined as text-based art:
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John Hollander's "Swan and shadow"
A facsimile will be in the exhibition
#2: The art needs to be intended as a piece of visual art.
This guideline leaves out most commercial design (logos, billboards, sale notices, etc.) but includes a lot of graphic design. Which makes me happy; for far too long, graphic designers have created innovative and evocative work only to have the jealous guardians at the gate between high and low turn their noses up at gorgeous work simply because it was created for a client. Some of the best work in this arena is every bit as beautiful and thought provoking as the best work that has earned the exalted title of "art". A fine example is this piece below by graphic designer Carla Rozman:
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| "YES/NO" by Carla Rozman |
Guideline #2 also begs the question whether there needs to be an aesthetic element -- an intention on the part of the artist to have their art look a certain way. For the cause of defining, let's err on the side of limitation and say "yes" -- whereas conceptual art may leave some or all of that to the mind of the receiver or the creator, text art does not. Which brings us to another guideline and to a fun digression.
First, the guideline:
#3: The artist must be attempting to create a certain aesthetic effect with their text and or imagery.
Now, the fun digression:
TEXT-BASED ART AND CONCEPTUAL ART
The Potter Stewart quotation above is more apt than first meets the eye (or mind) in this discussion, highlighting, as it does, the elevation of concept over execution. For him, it's the "knowing" in the mind of the audience (him) that ultimately defines the designation of the visuals in question. This is almost the very definition of conceptual art. From a sweet website called The Art Story:
Conceptual art is a movement that prizes ideas over the formal or visual components of art works.
. . . . .
Their chief claim - that the articulation of an artistic idea suffices as a work of art - implied that concerns such as aesthetics, expression, skill and marketability were all irrelevant standards by which art was usually judged.
Or, as one notable conceptual artist put it:
"What the work of art looks like isn't too important. It has to look like something if it has physical form. No matter what form it may finally have it must begin with an idea. It is the process of conception and realization with which the artist is concerned."
-Sol LeWitt
In this statement above, I think Mr. LeWitt gives the physical appearance of the artwork a lot of importance; at least, contrasted to point #3 in Lawrence Weiner's 1968 "Declaration of intent" (below), he does. Weiner goes that one crucial step further by "allowing" the ultimate piece of conceptual art and (coincidentally, the ultimate piece of minimalist art): a thought. Just a thought. Can that be art? Here's his "Declaration":
Weiner is saying that art is in the eye of the beholder here. John Cage more or less said the same thing 16 years earlier with his 4'33", the so-called "silent" piece, in which the musician(s) actively do NOT play their instruments, allowing the audience (and the ambient noise) to create the art.
It reminds me of one of my favorite definitions of art:
"Art is anything made by anybody that somebody calls art."
-Norm Magnusson
A populist and open-ended definition of art if ever there was one. Which is ironic, since the whole thrust of this little rambling essay is to try and come up with a specific definition of what is and is not text-based art, throwing Magnusson and Stewart and Cage and Weiner's vagaries be damned.
Anyway, with only the slightest consideration of LeWitt's and Weiner's words, you can see what a short hop it is from conceptual art to text-based art. And how they certainly overlap frequently. In light of these artist's definitions of conceptual art, it's tempting to say that text-based art is frequently conceptual art made manifest, thoughts given form (like most all art that ever existed) and meaning through visual imagery including text. If "text" is the conceptual part, is "art" the aesthetic part? Very tempting to define text based art like that and just go off to get a beer and some nachos.
Take the piece below by Robert Brush, (below) for example. To Weiner's #2 point, Robert doesn't make neon signs, he doesn't bend the tubes and pump in the gas and hook up the transformer. He has them fabricated. Yet this piece is definitely his artwork, not the neon sign maker's artwork. It's a fine piece of conceptual art and for me, it is without doubt -- one hundred percent, also a fine piece of text-based art.
In this statement above, I think Mr. LeWitt gives the physical appearance of the artwork a lot of importance; at least, contrasted to point #3 in Lawrence Weiner's 1968 "Declaration of intent" (below), he does. Weiner goes that one crucial step further by "allowing" the ultimate piece of conceptual art and (coincidentally, the ultimate piece of minimalist art): a thought. Just a thought. Can that be art? Here's his "Declaration":
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| Lawrence Weiner "Declaration of intent" A facsimile will be in the show. |
Weiner is saying that art is in the eye of the beholder here. John Cage more or less said the same thing 16 years earlier with his 4'33", the so-called "silent" piece, in which the musician(s) actively do NOT play their instruments, allowing the audience (and the ambient noise) to create the art.
It reminds me of one of my favorite definitions of art:
"Art is anything made by anybody that somebody calls art."
-Norm Magnusson
A populist and open-ended definition of art if ever there was one. Which is ironic, since the whole thrust of this little rambling essay is to try and come up with a specific definition of what is and is not text-based art, throwing Magnusson and Stewart and Cage and Weiner's vagaries be damned.
Anyway, with only the slightest consideration of LeWitt's and Weiner's words, you can see what a short hop it is from conceptual art to text-based art. And how they certainly overlap frequently. In light of these artist's definitions of conceptual art, it's tempting to say that text-based art is frequently conceptual art made manifest, thoughts given form (like most all art that ever existed) and meaning through visual imagery including text. If "text" is the conceptual part, is "art" the aesthetic part? Very tempting to define text based art like that and just go off to get a beer and some nachos.
Take the piece below by Robert Brush, (below) for example. To Weiner's #2 point, Robert doesn't make neon signs, he doesn't bend the tubes and pump in the gas and hook up the transformer. He has them fabricated. Yet this piece is definitely his artwork, not the neon sign maker's artwork. It's a fine piece of conceptual art and for me, it is without doubt -- one hundred percent, also a fine piece of text-based art.
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| Robert Brush "We Buy GOD" |
As a last word on the confluence of conceptual and text art, here's a blurb from the MOMA website on text-based art:
Language was an important tool for Conceptual artists in the 1960s. Many Conceptual artists used language in place of brush and canvas, and words played a primary role in their emphasis on ideas over visual forms. Though text had been used in art long before this, artists like Joseph Kosuth were among the first to give words such a central role. The way the words look plays a role in Conceptual art, but it is language itself that has the ultimate significance.
TEXT ART AND MINIMALISM
Certainly some of the best examples of text art (such as Brush's neon above) have stripped away much extraneous material: unnecessary imagery and adornment. But does that mean that text art is a subset of minimalism as it is, evidently, a subset of conceptual art?
By way of illustration, take these three pieces below by Ed Ruscha. The MoMA site says that he worked as a typesetter as a young man and "began seeing 'words as pictures'." Very interesting. First up is his iconic "Standard station". For me, this is not a piece of text-based art, it's a snapshot of Americana. Western Americana? Californicana? Commerical Americana? Or all of the above. No matter, this piece seems to be more about the culture surrounding the building and its sign and less about the word/thought portrayed.
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| Ed Ruscha "oof" NOT IN EXHIBITION |
But with "oof", above, there's really no debate. Text-based art for sure. So, if the word "Hollywood" had zero other imagery, would it be text-based art? Yes. Indubitably.
But ridding an artwork of compositional elements and other adornments isn't everything. Take Jim Granger's "Already survived" below; it is without doubt a piece of text-based art despite the floral background evoking tea with grandma. Definitely not a piece of minimalist art. So, if it's not the background (or absence thereof), then what?
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| "I have already survived" by Jim Granger IN EXHIBITION |
It's the action that decides. Which part of the artwork is the prime mover of evocation? Is it the text or is it other compositional elements? With Ruscha's "Hollywood", the fact that it depicts an actual sign and location really seems to make it more of a landscape painting than a piece of text-based art. Same with "Standard station." Does that mean that landscape painting can't be text-based art. Not at all.
Consider this piece below by Barbara Kruger, "Untitled (your body is a battleground)". Does this seem like a portrait painting? Or a piece of text-based art? I would argue that the background here doesn't matter too much. It could have been a scene from a Civil War battle, it could have been a torso, it could have been worker bees feeding the queen. It could have gotten more abstract or more specific. The background image could have gone all kinds of different ways and the message would have been the same. (Ok, maybe slightly different in the case of the bees.) In this piece, Kruger has successfully moved beyond the constraints of traditional imagery (the face she uses, or any of the images I suggested above) and created a piece where all the real action of the painting is in the text. Or at least the bulk of it.
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| Barbara Kruger "Untitled (your body is a battleground)" NOT IN SHOW |
Same question with Paul McMahon's "Synchro-niceties" series or Isabella Giancarlo's "Eat your heart out series (both below). Does the background really matter to the concept of the piece? In both cases, while the backgrounds certainly enrich the artworks, they do not seem essential to the concept.
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| Paul McMahon, from his "synchronicities" series |
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| Isabella Giancarlo from her "Eat our heart out" series. |
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| David Wojnarowicz "Untitled (one day this kid...)" NOT IN EXHIBITION |
Above is a piece by one of my very favorite artists, David Wojnarowicz. Vis-a-vis the 3 guidelines I've identified above, this is definitely a piece of text-based art. It's even been framed! But, in reality, it seems more of an illustrated story than a piece of visual art. Read it through; it's powerful and poignant. So why doesn't it seem to be text art? Does the volume of text make a difference? If a piece has only a few words, is it text art? And if it has a lot of words, maybe it's not? Thoughts?
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| Rene Magritte "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" NOT IN EXHIBITION |
My last note on this intriguing question of how one defines "text art" will focus on this piece above by Magritte. For me, it's a perfect piece of text-based art: the concept is in the text (#1), without doubt it was intended as a piece of visual art (#2), and the artist was after a certain aesthetic effect with both word and visual (#3). But there is one other thing that this piece does, over and above those 3 guidelines: it creates a lovely intellectual and emotional break between what we think we know to be true and what it is telling us is true, or not true. Which brings us to the fourth (and for now, final) guideline:
#4: The text must take you somewhere. It must be evocative. The mere presence of text is not enough.
A swell guideline capping off an interesting set of guidelines to help us decide if something is text-based art or not. But how, truly, can you define #4? It "takes you somewhere"? It's "evocative"? Seriously, who can define what causes such visceral emotional effects? Who can predict what movie will move you or which song will get you to tap your feet? And who, ultimately, can really define, for example, what counts as "pornography"? You can't. You just can't. But with enough careful consideration and failed attempts to do so, what you CAN do is get very good at knowing it when you see it.
Norm Magnusson
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| Keetra Dean Dixon "NOW HERE" |
for more discussion of text art, there's a fine little essay on the Art Encylopedia: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/definitions/word-art.htm
THE EXHIBITION
Some truly amazing and moving art by local and national artists.
Unless otherwise noted, all of the art shown (or facsimiles thereof) will be in the exhibition "abc@WFG".
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Robert Brush "We Buy GOD"
Robert: The first
edition of this piece was acquired for the world famous collection of Raymond Learsy
and Melva Bucksbaum for their private museum, the Granary.
Curator: Conceptually
and aesthetically, this is a home run of text-based art for me. By subverting a
well known sign of the times, it raises questions ranging from economic
enfranchisement to theological salesmanship and many other points in between.
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| Erika DeVries "Our infinite capacity for love" embroidered hand towel |
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| Erika deVries "The Hawaiian blessing temporary tattoo (ho-o-pono-pono" |
Hoʻoponopono
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hoʻoponopono (ho-o-pono-pono) is an ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. Similar forgiveness practices were performed on islands throughout the South Pacific, including Samoa, Tahiti and New Zealand. Traditionally hoʻoponopono is practiced by healing priests or kahuna lapaʻau among family members of a person who is physically ill. Modern versions are performed within the family by a family elder, or by the individual alone.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
above: "ecstasy/ashamed" a lenticular by Erika deVries
Erika: The places I
inhabit, beginning with girlhood, womanhood, and now motherhood are my life
process and reflect in my artwork. As I age I become increasingly aware of
presence and absence and my eye and heart are acutely attuned to these
phenomena.
Transformations, large and small, occupy my daily visual thoughts
and visceral feelings. They happen rapidly and seemingly moment to moment when
living with young children. New words and their meanings, new movements,
skills, and experiences are part of the every day parade; I am staggered by
each moment’s fullness then disappearance. I re-learn the power of words as my
children learn their power and literacy for the first time. These domestic,
daily transformations highlight control, power relationships, and the things we
have no control over in our lives, such as loose teeth, physical growth, and
change. Art making and life living are my combined practice with a commitment
to growth, change, and sharing.
I create works across disciplines out of a voraciousness and desire for
a whole experience. I have worked with internet-based projects, photography,
performance, video, craft handiwork, radio, lenticular imaging, and sound.
Connecting these processes meaningfully, sensually and visually models the
personal connections and relationships I wish to make through the work and life
living.
Curator: This piece is
a great example of text-based art for me and a lovely piece of art, period.
Erika mentions “transformations, large and small” and this piece certainly illustrates one: the
presence/absence of the feelings
of being in ecstasy and being ashamed. The words representing them are here one
moment and then gone the next, the window to the world beyond blocked (for good
or bad) by them, then open without them. The text creates a deeply evocative
piece that, without the text, would just be a pretty snapshot out the window.
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| Carla Rozman "YesNo" |
Carla: YesNo! is an exploration
of impulse and decision: "Yes! I want to do that; No! I don't have the
time. Yes! I want to go home with you; No! You're married." Often, I find
myself saying Yes/No at the same time.
Curator:
This piece is an interesting straddling of the sometimes fine line between
design and art. Carla is a graphic designer and a fine artist and this piece
has the distinct feeling of design but also the evocative presence of art. For
me, as the viewer, it evokes my (as I grow older) absolute certainty that I
really don't know as much as I used to think I did. What do you think?
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| Melissa Cohen "Purity" |
Melissa: This drawing is part of an ongoing exploration of how words and meanings change within the context of their expression.
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| Melissa Cohen "Shit, cops, guns" |
Melissa: A threshold is the place between our private
and public space. This piece
comments on the manufacture of public greeting verbology.
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| Melissa Cohen "Purity, security" |
Melissa: Part of a group of photos and other work
concerned with hygiene: racial, mental and biological.
Curator:
Melissa also said, in her bio: “Text in my art is another layer of
cultural iconography much as a found object is to art.. The juxtaposition
creates something altogether stronger and different than either standing
alone. The poetry is the tension, the cohesion and the absence of
dependence between the two.
The
pieces came out of a period of work that started with my work/grant in Berlin
where I lived in a former Jewish neighborhood and confronted both my complacent
notions of being a Jew from the U.S. against the space of voids, cracks , and
silences of the dilapidated shot and bombed out neighborhood in which I was
living.
The
work addresses historical ideas of racial and social hygiene from both the Nazi
“final solution” and other popular concepts such as “eugenics”, to books
exploring gender and social roles. The work continued when I returned to
the states to also address biological hygiene as the AIDS epidemic was raging.”
I love this piece as a piece of text-based art. So
simple and yet so profound.
above: 7 from Isabella Giancarlo's "Eat your heart out" series.
Isabella: For me, a loss of appetite
typically accompanies the end of a relationship. After a break-up last
spring, eight words sat me that I couldn’t shake. I thought about ways to
reclaim that phrase… how could I sweeten words that initially took my appetite
away?
I asked friends for their heartbreak quotes and felt those familiar
pangs. You didn’t need to understand the intricacies of a relationship to feel
the weight of those final words. To me, desserts suggest: Go ahead. Gorge.
Engage with the uncomfortable, sticky feelings of a broken heart that are so
often dismissed as self-indulgent. Devour and reclaim the words that caused you
pain.
Curator: I guess the text-based
art I like best creates a synergistic relationship between words and image.
These pieces definitely do that.
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| "I have already survived" by Jim Granger |
Curator: Here’s a piece of text art that
straddles a line that so much art in or around this genre does: the affirmation
line. Is a rock with the word
“imagine” etched in it a piece of text-based art or is it front porch
decoration? What if that word has been carved in by a famous artist and what if
the rock is being sold in a famous gallery? Here, artist Jim Granger has embroidered words that are both
autobiographical and affirmational and for me, this is a fine example of
text-based art.
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| Norm Magnusson "Fish" |
Curator: "Ghoti"
is an interesting word construction that illustrates some of the inherent
difficulties of pronunciation of the English language. Also, a fine
example of art that lives or dies with the text.
Clare Finin Truth Statements, 2012
Personal keepsake, human hair, found object
10 ½ x 11 ¾ “
Personal keepsake, human hair, found object
10 ½ x 11 ¾ “
Clare Finin The Things I Never Said, 2012
Mothers Handkerchief, human hair
12 x 12”
Mothers Handkerchief, human hair
12 x 12”
Clare Finin A Parents Label, 2012
Childhood nightgown, human hair
19 ½ x 30 ½ “
Childhood nightgown, human hair
19 ½ x 30 ½ “
Clare: In this body of work I
begin with family heirlooms, personal keepsakes, and found objects that
activate a familiar feeling. I try to create representations of the
memories that surround these objects and give a physical presence to these
memory traces from childhood. I utilize the physical act of making as a
form of remembering through employing traditional domestic techniques that
were once commonplace in my family. Rope making, embroidery, and lace
tatting help me remember and feel connected to my childhood and family
that I have lost. Like Victorian sentimental and mourning jewelry, I
use my own hair as a material in my work. It is with my hair that I
become physically tied to those recollections I mourn.
Curator: Without the text, these
pieces are simple mementos. The text adds a layer of narrative and emotion that
make these pieces very powerful example of text-based art.
Above: 5 by Alex Gingrow
Alex:
From 2007-2013, I worked a full time job as a mat cutter at a frame shop in
midtown Manhattan. In my time there, I learned that, in the art world, the
frame shop essentially functions like the neighborhood barbershop, or better
yet, the red-headed step-child of an already dysfunctional family. Clients felt
free to discuss their inner dealings and gallery gossip in our showroom as if
none of us would or could have any regard for their lack of discretion. Over
those six years, I collected nuggets of those conversations, imagined my own
conversations with several of those art world powerhouses, and sought out
tidbits from others who also held lowly but otherwise vital positions within
galleries and institutions. At the same time, I collected numerous provenance
stickers from the backs of frames and portfolios and eventually came to
appropriate them with my own name, titles, and details. This became the body of
work that I call The Sticker Series.
The impetus for this body of work came from one particular
conversation with a client who reminded us to remove the provenance stickers
from the old frames and to adhere them to the new frames because “all the money
IS in the label.” My work explores both the idiocy and the irony of such a sentiment
and is essentially a sharp critique of the world in which I choose to
maneuver. Like the goal of all good literature, I strive to make
nuanced work that is at its core an examination of the oddities and intricacies
of the human condition.
Curator: Yeah,
what she said. I love this body of work, the thoughts behind it and the
thoughts in front of it.
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| Franc Palaia "Trophy/gun" |
Franc:
fact: In 2016, there are over 300 million guns in the United States. That is
enough weapons to equip the standing armies of every single country in the
world which is about 200 countries and still have some guns left over.
In the 1990s I wanted to address the unsettling phenomenon
of the proliferation of guns and violence in the United States. I made an
observation on how some Americans just worship guns. Growing up Catholic and
admiring the beauty and reverence of religious iconography such as guilded
statuary in churches and elsewhere I felt that gun lovers had a similar
experience when around guns of any type. I also observed the ironic love
that hunters have for animals when they shoot and kill them just to stuff them
and proudly display their heads on their walls. With the Guilt/Gilt
series I am playing with the two words Guilt and Gilt. They sound
the same but have totally different meanings.
I conflated the worship of religious symbols that are
usually highly gilt with the worship of guns. I made pieces that resemble
hunters’ plaques on their walls with the heads of innocent dead Americans who
are shot either by accident, suicide, out of vengeance, in a criminal act or by
random violence. I guilded the guns (the objects of worship) and placed them on
the highly polished and stained wooden plaques that normally hold the animal
heads. I cut the plaques to represent the profile images of the murdered
human victims such as a young boy, a young girl, a veteran soldier, a hunter,
an average man, a young black man, etc. So with “Trophies” I am turning the
concept of a trophy upside down where instead of representing pride and
accomplishment, rather you are really seeing an object of death, sadness,
cruelty, false praise and guilt. In my WFG Gallery piece the trophy
guilded gun is mounted on a hunters profile plaque that is covered by the
pictures and names of the hundreds of Americans killed every day, week and year
by random gun violence.
Curator: For this
piece, the text is a background element and because of that, it may be tempting
to say that this is not really a piece of text-based art, but imagine this
piece without the text; the text takes it to where the artist says he wants it
to go. I agree.
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| Mary Anne Erickson "Become the man" |
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| Mary Anne Erickson "Deep relief" |
Mary Anne: I’ve been tearing out old
ads from the 1930’s - 1970’s since I started my photo morgue as an art school
student. I’ve been especially drawn to the ads that struck me as humorous in
either their language/content and/or imagery. Also, my mom subscribed to the
Miles Kimball catalog when I was a kid and some of the products and associated
illustrations just made me laugh out loud. I’ve saved a lot of those too.
In
2012, I created a series of collages incorporating images and text from these
sources that I found compelling. I was especially intrigued by how the
marketers preyed on people’s insecurities about their appearance and the
promise of being a “better version” of yourself if you just use this product.
Then
I fooled around with a few different techniques to enlarge the collages and
take them to the next level. I printed some of them on Lazertran, transferred
to white masonite boards, then painted with acrylics, accentuating areas of
interest.
Other
images were transformed into mono prints and photo transfers at The Woodstock
School of Art print shop.
As
an artist who has been primarily known for my Vanishing Roadside series of
paintings, I see a strong parallel in this series. I’m fascinated by a certain
whimsical sensibility that existed in the language and imagery of by-gone days.
The illustrative nature of vintage signs, and the underlying humor of these
vintage ads all add up to bring a smile to my face!
Curator: I love
the retro kitsch feeling, so masterfully executed in these two pieces by Mary
Anne, but I fluctuate on whether I think they’re text-based art or social
commentary or both. They definitely make me, as a viewer, consider American
consumer culture and gender roles over the years.
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| Keetra Dean Dixon "NOW HERE" |
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| Keetra Dean Dixon "I DEAL" |
Keetra: “The
Divideds” series began in 2010. Subtitled: Banners for a fickle will, each
fabric pieces presents a single word boldly printed across it: IDEAL,
PRETENDER, AWAY, NOWHERE. Each word is split by a zipper and viewers are
encouraged to zip or unzip the language causing a shift in tone with the new
language, moving from positive to negative or vice vera.
Curator: Beautiful,
simple, evocative text-based art at its purest.
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| Norm Magnusson "Confusion" |
Two passages from the Koran on a background of an Arabic language newspaper. They are two “thall shalt not kill” passages from the Islamic holy book.
The two passages are:
....anyone who murders any person who had not committed murder or horrendous crimes, it shall be as if he murdered all the people. (5:32)
"You shall not kill any person - for God has made life sacred - except in the course of justice. If one is killed unjustly, then we give his heir authority to enforce justice. Thus, he shall not exceed the limits in avenging the murder, he will be helped."(17:33)
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| Thomas Huber "Element" |
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| Thomas Huber "Jiggle" |
Thomas: "I am especially interested in the
different parts of the brain used to process visual info and text info and how
one must jump back and forth in their brain to process both together. I use
found hand written notes as cryptic clues within the work. Both as Visual
TEXTure as well as conceptual texture."
Curator: I love these two paintings and,
while I find them a little bit conceptually difficult, feel, in light of
Thomas’ statement above that they are most certainly text-based art. What do
you think? Can a piece of art truly be classified by one who doesn’t truly
understand it? If you trust the artist and follow their lead then the answer is
certainly “yes”.
above: "Mercy street" by Mariyah Sultan
Mariya: This graphic work has line after line
of theological and poetic writings with each word partially obliterated .
The universal truths become the foundation and under current of the
work with the transcendence of associated religious dogma . The artists
intention is to express, as in a lingering prayer, the profound
understanding that life, future, justice, hope, and soundness of mind are
available to all people -without subjugation to human endeavors. It is
also a reverent acknowledgment to that which is of the Higher Register.
Curator: This is such a gorgeous piece and
as soon as I saw it, I wanted it for this exhibition. It’s especially
interesting to me because though it’s comprised entirely of text, it doesn’t
feel like a piece of text-based art.
It feels more like a piece of conceptual art comprised of text, perhaps
because the actual reading of the text is very difficult? Thoughts?
above: 5 by Paul McMahon from his "Synchro-niceties" series
Paul:
Synchronicity is undeniable coincidence which may be feeding a narrative. It
may correspond to 'quantum' principles of causality we have not quite
incorporated into our worldview. Inner and outer realities dovetail
inexplicably.
Curator: So much
text-based art has an air of playfulness to it. A delight in the language and
what it mostly means and what it might mean. Paul’s artworks here are a fine
example of that. Fun and playful yet thought-provoking
above: score sheets from rummy 13 by Jacinta Bunnell
Jacinta:
This series of drawings are a collaboration
between Jacinta Bunnell and her step-father, Edward Antoine, who supplies her with daily score
sheets from Thirteen, a rummy-like card game first brought back to the family in the
'70s from Bunnell’s maternal grandparents’ retirement community in Jensen
Beach, Florida. Bunnell adds color and pattern to Antoine’s
grid work tally sheets. They both enjoy the clarity that comes from clean
design and attention to detail.
Curator:
This work doesn't feel like it’s text-based art to me. I think numbers could
and should be considered “text” and could conceivably be evocative (think “13”
or “42”) but in this instance the numbers are simply background for some very
lovely designs. Still, these artworks are gorgeous to look at and as soon as I
saw them, I knew I really wanted some for this exhibition, which is examing
what definitely is and almost is text-based art.
above: 4 artworks by Sparrow.
Text art? Comics? Both?
Sparrow: About
nine years ago I started writing one-line literary works that I now call “First
Lines of Novels.” Each one of them, in theory, could be the beginning of a 582
page work of fiction. Three years later, I began illustrating them. At first I
used paper, but my friend Tom Fraser suggested card stock.
Curator: I love
these pieces by Sparrow; they’re cartoons, to be sure, but then the question
is: can cartoons be art? Can they be text-based art? By dint of clearly being
one thing, are they then excluded from being something else?
above: John Baldessari (will not be in show)
below: Inspired by Baldessari's piece above, 2 by Molly Rausch, an artist who wants to sell:
Molly: I bought
this John Baldessari postcard in London when I was traveling in 2009. It made me laugh. I decided it was time to test his
theories.
Curator: Unlike
Mr. Baldessari, Molly did paint these. She was going to paint a re-creation of
his piece but, instead, came up with these wonderful, art-historically rich
originals based upon his painting. Perfect little nuggets of text-based art.
above: "This land" by Dan Goldman
Dan: "This Land Is Your Land" was written by Woody Guthrie,
America’s most famous folk singer in critical response to Irving Berlins
"God Bless America." Feeling a bit like Woody may have when he penned
the song in 1940. "I'm feeling angry and powerless at the hands of
large corporate entities that live greedily for profit at the expense of the
people who inhabit this land.” These days I'm thinking Woody would
be singing these versus right along with us if he could.
Curator: I love
this piece, using the form of an existing song sheet to create a social
commentary. Text art as political art. Perfect.
above: front and back of a 'historical' marker by Norm Magnusson
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| Norm Magnusson "The Gettysburg Address segregated by letter" |
Curator: Well,
this is my piece and I really like it a lot but it seems more a piece of
conceptual art than a piece of text-based art. The meaning here comes more from
the presence of the text and its individual elements, (maybe even from the
historical importance of the speech itself) and not so much from the words or
what they signify.
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| Norm Magnusson "Yosemite Sam" |
 |
Norm Magnusson "down"
above: a page from "A humument" by Tom Phillips
(book will be present at the exhibition)
Curator: A classic,
early piece of art (and, in a way, writing (or, at least, storytelling)) from
1970. Tom Philips treated each page
of a novel from 1892 entitled A Human Document with different artistic
techniques, leaving certain words to show through, which then told a different
story altogether. This seems not
so much text-based art as, perhaps, art-based writing.
above: a classic by John Hollander
(a facsimile is in the show)
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