Text Message: Words and Letters in Contemporary Art

January 21 – May 6, 2018

Boris Bally
Transit Chair, 2003
Found metal traffic signs, champagne corks, and metal fasteners
Racine Art Museum, Gift of the Artist
Photography: Jon Bolton

While the title of the exhibition plays on the popular digital form of communication, the pieces gathered here are tangible three-dimensional objects made of fiber, ceramic, polymer, paper, and metal as well as two-dimensional works on paper. All works featured are drawn from RAM’s collection. Letters and script are used as design and pattern elements as well as conveyors of meaning, underscoring how contemporary artists recognize the power and complexity of the written word. Examples include teapots decorated with narrative scenes overlaid with accompanying text, contemporary prints that highlight letters from urban signage, and baskets accented with or formed by words and script.

More About the Exhibition

Exhibition Notes (PDF)

Artists in the Exhibition

Shusaku Arakawa, Karen Aumann, Ralph Bacerra, Boris Bally, Harriete Estel Berman, Jerry Berta, Teri Blond, Kate Boyan, Ken Bova, Barbara Brandel, Caroline Broadhead, Kathleen Browne, Robin Campo, Michael Cohen, Warrington Colescott, Robert Cottingham, Leah Danberg, Kathleen Dustin, Jack Earl, Wayne Farra, Elissa Farrow-Savos, Dikko Faust, Lisa Fidler, Stephen Freedman, Michael Frimkess and Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, Gwen Gibson, Teri Greeves, Laurie J. Hall, Walter S. Hamady, Bobby Hansson, Charles Hobson, Jenny Holzer, Jan Hopkins, Tory Hughes, Michael James, Nuala Jamison, Hai-Chi Jihn, Rosita Johanson, Paul Amos Kennedy, Jr., Corita Kent, Ronald King, Anne Kingsbury, Anne Krauss, Alyssa Dee Krauss, Barbara Kruger, Gyöngy Laky, James Lawton, Edna G. Lazaron, Zachary Lechtenberg, Dulany Lingo, Michael Lucero, Paul Mathieu, Scott L. McCarney, John McQueen, Linda Mendelson, Richard Milette, George Joji Miyaski, Matt Nolen, Gugger Petter, Robert Pfeulb, JoAnna Poehlmann, Dalia Ramanauskas, Robert Rauschenberg, Donna Rosenthal, Bird Ross, Joan Schulze, Mark Shapiro, Rebecca Strzelec, Masami Teraoka, Barbara Tentenbaum, Joe Tilson, Loes van Riel, John Wilde, William T. Wiley, Donald Roller Wilson, and Paul Wonner