Textual Works: Opening Reception

Thu, May 18
Opening: 7-9 pm, Gallery hours:T-Sat. 12-6 pm
Free

Think of a flexible ground between literature and art. This space is
comprehensive, inclusive, but restrictive at the same time. It allows
a form of writing that appears close to literature, but it is not. It
forms a gesture inscribed on the terrain of the art system. This is
the common ground where Paris-based Bethan Huws and Los Angeles-based
Frances Stark establish their practice, an art practice performed by
writing, with text as its medium.

The language-based works in this exhibition possess a literary aim
that distances them from earlier conceptual practices. Huws combines
her use of language with an interest in spatially specific work; she
creates written landscapes such as in The Lake Writing, 1991, where
the reading of the text forms visual imagery. She is also interested
in exploring the inner logic of language, and the dynamics of writing
as a process. On the other hand, Stark's practice takes its starting
point from the form and content of words. Her works require a double
action from the viewer - they are both to be read and to be seen. In
her drawings and collages, Stark uses quotes from literature and from
cultural sources such as Emily Dickinson and Henry Miller. These
quotes are traced by hand with minute detail using carbon paper; in
this drawn form, the text acquires a formal visual value. In her more
recent work, text is used in a non-linear manner, going against a
grammatically correct order and foregrounding its image value.

Venue:

New Langtona Arts
1246 Folsom St.
San Francisco
415 626.5416
www.newlangtonarts,org

B/W 8th and 9th on Folsom

Additional Info:

415-626-5416
www.newlangtonarts.org