Mario Merz, Che Fare? 1968–73. ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. © The estate of Mario Merz.
The works in these rooms explore the use of written language in art
People have used language as an expressive art form for millennia, from oral tradition and the spoken word, to illuminated manuscripts and printed publications. This room brings together works produced in the last 50 years in Europe and the USA. They demonstrate different ways of engaging with text and its role as a form of communication.
By the late 1960s, text was the primary focus of many visual artworks. Artists associated with movements like cubism and Pop Art had long incorporated words found in advertising and mass media. Those interested in concrete poetry (such as Ian Hamilton Finlay) and conceptual art (such as Lawrence Weiner) often made artworks from text alone.
Many of the works in this room respond directly to the proliferation of language and text in the information age, particularly in relation to consumerism. For some artists, text provides a unique way to translate and materialise their ideas. Others reflect on language as an expression of human culture, capable of transmitting ideas, influencing behaviour and memorialising people and events.
Some of these artists focus on the act of writing as a form of making: inscribing, painting, carving, scribbling, typing or embroidering words as personal, meditative and poetic acts. For many, text-based works are a way to actively engage viewers. The reader is invited to imagine what is only described, and to project their own memories and associations onto the artist’s words.
Richard Long CBE, In the Cloud 1991
In the Cloud is a large framed text work, printed on off-white paper. The title words ‘IN THE CLOUD’ are printed in red capital letters in Gill Sans typeface. Below is a text printed in black capitals in the same font:
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artworks in ARTIST ROOMS: Art and Text
Bruce Nauman, Partial Truth 1997
Partial Truth comprises a rectangular slab of polished black granite into which have been carved the words ‘PARTIAL TRUTH’ over two lines in the Roman-style lettering scriptura monumentalis. While the word ‘PARTIAL’ is centrally aligned on the upper register, the word ‘TRUTH’ below is indented slightly to the right of centre. The inscribed letters are a lighter colour than the polished surface of the slab so that they stand out against the black. The artist has specified that the sculpture may be displayed directly on the floor, propped up against a wall, or placed on a gilded shelf. When installed on the floor the slab is placed on a shallow wooden plinth, with the letters pointing up to the ceiling, so that a shadow is cast underneath the slab making it appear as though it is floating just above the floor. On the reverse side, ‘Bruce Nauman’ has been inscribed into the stone using a machine, accompanied by the stone-maker’s mark ‘Gemini GEL’ and a symbol comprising the letter U within a small circle. The reverse left corner has been inscribed BN97-2181 5/25, indicating that this work is number five of an edition of twenty-five.
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artworks in ARTIST ROOMS: Art and Text
Douglas Gordon, I am the curator of my own misery. 2010
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artworks in ARTIST ROOMS: Art and Text
Ellen Gallagher, Esirn Coaler 2007
Esirn Coaler demonstrates the complex technique of layering that characterises much of Ellen Gallagher’s work. It is a wall-hanging relief comprising strips of dark grey and black plasticine packed into a rectangular block supported on an aluminium base. The strips are of uniform dimensions and organised in a rectilinear pattern resembling uneven parquet flooring. The plasticine strips have been overlaid with raised text in diverse fonts, cut from sheets of dark grey or black plasticine of various thicknesses. The name ‘Esirn Coaler’ dominates the upper part of the composition. At the centre is the slogan: ‘Fast Relief from Pain’. Other words and phrases have medical connotations, such as ‘corns’, ‘callouses’ and ‘bunions’.
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artworks in ARTIST ROOMS: Art and Text
Mario Merz, Che Fare? 1968–73
Che Fare? consists of a two-handled oblong aluminium tub filled with yellow beeswax, on top of which is a light blue neon sign that reads ‘che fare?’. These words are written in a script modelled on the artist’s own handwriting, which has a continuous flow that makes the two words almost appear as one. A white electrical wire on the left handle of the tub attaches the work to a power supply. There are several versions of this work, another of which is held at the GAM-Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Turin.
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artworks in ARTIST ROOMS: Art and Text
Edward Ruscha, DAILY PLANET 2003
The source for the text in DAILY PLANET is deliberately hard to pin down. It might connect with the natural imagery behind it. It is also the name of the newspaper Clark Kent writes for in the Superman comics. Ruscha has described the work’s title as ‘mysterious and teasing’. In an interview he claimed, ‘I’m empty headed in many ways, and don’t know why I follow what I follow. Like most people, I operate on an automatic mode, and everything is an involuntary reflex. Logic flies out of the window when you’re making a picture, at least it does with me. And thank God it does.’
Gallery label, July 2019
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artworks in ARTIST ROOMS: Art and Text
Andy Warhol, Hamburger 1985–6
Hamburger is a duplicated image of an advertisement, silkscreened in black onto canvas with a white background. In this high contrast reproduction the original image has been simplified to the extent that most of the detail has been lost and only the black outline remains. The central line of text exclaims ‘HAMBURGER’ in capital letters, with the words ‘Wholesome’ and ‘Delicious’ in smaller text beneath, with no reference to a particular brand name. Warhol doubled the image to form a diptych, which has then been set within one frame to make a single work. The light coloured background and black ink mark a departure from the bold colours of Warhol’s earlier prints.
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artworks in ARTIST ROOMS: Art and Text
Art in this room