Artists have been using text in their art since the 1960s, but a suite of new exhibitions presented nationally reboot the genre with a contemporary inflection.
There are a number of exhibitions at the moment focused on artists who use text as the foundation of their art making. It is hardly a new idea – text and art have been intertwined for centuries; think of medieval illuminated manuscripts with their elaborate illustrations, or Surrealist Rene Magitte’s words “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“This pipe isn’t a pipe”) slashed across a painting.
Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's Senior Contributor, after 12 years in the role as National Visual Arts Editor. She has worked for extended periods in America and Southeast Asia, as gallerist, arts administrator and regional contributing editor for a number of magazines, including Hong Kong based Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. She is an Art Tour leader for the AGNSW Members, and lectures regularly on the state of the arts. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW.
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