Can words be a form of art? According to London‘s Simon Lee Gallery, it can. The gallery is presenting WORDS, an exhibition that explores the function of language as art.
“Whether dealing in political statements, ribald asides, poetry and literature or illegible scrawls and scribbles, the works in this exhibition comment on the ways in which ideas are exchanged and communication effected,” Simon Lee Gallery says.
“While the visual language of an artist’s vernacular is well trodden ground, WORDS highlights the way in which – from the late 1960s onwards – conceptual art practice delved into notions of authorship, aesthetics and the dematerialisation of the traditional art object, in the pursuit of complicating the relationship between the verbal and the visual.” the gallery adds. “Taking words and language as both subject and medium, the works presented explore the interrelation of form and meaning, and the distinction between looking at and reading a painting.”
The exhibition includes the works of 15 contemporary artists. One of the featured artists is Gary Simmons and his work Moreland Midnight.
Erasure drawing is a style that Simmons is known best for, in which he creates chalk drawings (or, in this case, text) and subsequently smudges them with his hands. For Moreland Midnight, the text is rubbed just enough to make the piece look ghostly.
Simon Lee Gallery says that Simmons’ piece creates “a spectral residue that evokes a sense of loss while simultaneously conveying the power of memory.”
To learn more about Simon Lee Gallery’s WORDS exhibition, click the link below.
