Words at Work
One of the most interesting themes used by contemporary artists is the use of text or language in their work. The exhibition Words At Work samples artwork from the Microsoft Art Collection that features the written word. The written word can be just that, a phrase or word, or fragment of thought like Squeak Carnwath’s handwritten musings in Unknown Quantities, or Laura Lisbon’s letter in Grey Text. For many artists the text is a very personal expression, something like a message in a bottle, unrolled and open for the public to read. Like Carnwath and Lisbon, Ed Ruscha uses short phrases or single words to make his point. He may also exaggerate the graphic design or style of the individual letters or words of his drawings It’s Recreational (from the World Series) is one such example. Ruscha began working in advertising in Southern California in the 1960s and the sometimes witty and over-the-top nature of ads is still a trademark of his work. The text is pitching an idea, a place or a thing. The same colloquial language is used by Chicago based artist Ken Fandell. In his print series, Words that Dick Vitale might use if he were a spokesman for the Almost Cube, adds to his cube like image the words famed sportscaster Dick Vitale might use if he were spokesperson for Fandell’s own creation, the Almost Cube. Vitale’s provocative adjectives never seem to make a difference to Fandell’s dumb cubes.
Mark Mumford and Christopher Wool favor more formal, block-style letters that generally constitute the sum of their compositions. While the work of Mumford and Wool can be amusing, the block letters impart a serious edge to the meaning and sense of what the viewer is reading. Harvey Opgenorth’s performance photograph - becoming one with Wool’s painting - makes light of this supposed seriousness.
Textual artwork has obvious, and in some cases literal, associations with books and other printed material. The English artist Hamish Fulton’s Untitled (Text Work) suggests a stream of consciousness recorded in a travel journal. Mark Newport uses comic books as inspiration for his Freedom Bedcover: A Warm Embrace. The team of Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick compose a fictional narrative which is printed along side the images of their latest project entitled City of Salt. How to Work Better by another collaborative team Peter Fischli and David Weiss is less book and more a do-it-yourself, self-help flyer one might find left on a car windshield, or pinned on the bulletin board in the company kitchen.
As important as the written word is in today’s society, it’s only logical that artists would focus on it as a tool in the creation of their own work. As the basis of language, words are fundamentally expressive evoking imagery or standing as the image itself. Ultimately, it is the visual power of language that appeals to us in these striking works.
Michael Klein,
Curator
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