Unspoken Journey
“I have nothing to say, and I am saying it…”
John Cage, Lecture on Nothing, 1949
This quote could be a worthy subtitle for my entire body of artwork, almost all of which is largely or entirely non-representational. Non-representational art breaks, or at least weakens, the link between sign and meaning. That link is at the root of our world, our thoughts and our language. It's absence in art invites the viewer to create their own meanings.
By making signs without meaning in my art, I often feel as if I am saying nothing, but speaking nonetheless. What do you hear?
The Unspoken Journey is a project that adds another layer to this paradox in a direct way through the use of “asemic writing”. This term was first used in the late 1990s and refers to writing that has no semantic content. It looks like writing so our mind tries to approach it as signs with meaning, but it is frustrated in its attempt. This dissonance calls attention to interesting questions about language and thought, signs and their meaning, visual art and writing, and much more.
The pieces in this project are all made by combining monotypes (collagraphs, relief printing, gel prints, chine-collé) with ink applied with various types of calligraphic pens.