Body
of Text

Expressive calligraphy installation,
Denis Brown
2007

A work with conceptual depths regarding writing; it's history as a foundation of culture in east and west; and to the displacement of handwriting in today's digital lifestyles.

Full image enlarged: Click here
-then click that image for a sequence of cool enlarged details

A common question by those who have seen the original:
"How did you get the mass of writing to just float there?"
The plan illustrated below may help web viewers to understand the 3-D aspect.

This is a large 8 foot by 5.5 foot installation, (240cm x 170cm), from floor to ceiling, built across an alcove in a domestic room. Two central columns are built of up to 12 overlapping layers of writing engraved onto 6 sheets of clear acrylic. These sheets are spaced apart to a total depth of about  6" or 15cm. The feathery textures at the sides were achieved by sanding the layers of plexiglas with diamond-chip abrasive blocks, using vigorous gestural strokes.

'Body of Text' is a work full of ironic juxtapositions. Conventionally, writing depends on ink, but this writing is inkless... thousands of words have been scratched into both sides of six sheets of clear plexiglas (perspex) without any ink at all. They float away from & above an ink-splashed background sheet. But it is this dark background (painted in sumi inks onto acetate) which makes the engraved writing visible. Visible; but not legible- this text obliterates itself by many overlapping repetitions. Semantic meaning is lost, but an image emerges- an eight foot tall figure appears from this 'body of text'.

Plan view illustrating the third dimension.

Red suggests areas of acrylic sheet that are covered in writing
Grey/green areas are textured to an opalescent finish
All other areas are fully clear and transparent.

The text is formed of two columns, the left hand side is written from top to bottom,  the right hand side from bottom to top. A central channel widens towards eye level and is filled with broken bits of oriental sumi ink sticks and splashes of ink. Some of the fragments of the stick inks bear oriental characters in gold. As with the text, these are arranged over the 6 spaced sheets of plexiglas (perspex) to produce a 3-D form with a total depth of up to 6 inches, or 15cm.

The most careful viewers of the original work may be able to read a text presented on the front sheet of plexiglas (perspex), though it's relatively formal letterforms have been almost scribbled out by totally informal text written on the reverse of the same sheet of plexiglas (perspex). The text reads:

INK, BLOOD OF TEXT, LIES BENEATH BODY OF TEXT. WRITTEN WITHOUT INK, YET MORE CLEAR BECAUSE OF BLACKNESS OF INK. ILLUMINATED BY DARKNESS, YET STILL ILLEGIBLE. THIS TEXT OBLITERATES ITSELF, BUT IS RE-BORN AS IMAGE.

INK, BLOOD OF TEXT, LIES BENEATH A BONY SKELETON. SIDE BY SIDE BUT SEPARATED. ENQUE; ENCUASTUM; ENKAUSTON: STAINS BURNED IN. DESICCATED TEXT. I AM MANUSCRIPT MUMMY; RELIC OF ALL CULTURES FOUNDED ON WRITING.

Denis Brown views his work. Lower- close detail. Click image for an enlargement.

©2011 Denis Brown  |  www.quillskill.com