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Art/Word/Image

December 2, 2017 – July 29, 2018

Jane Hammond, Irregular Plural II, 1995. Oil and paper collage on shaped canvas, 73 x 87 1/2 inches. Collection of the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Gift of Lillian Heidenberg. © Jane Hammond, New York.
overview

In 1912, when Picasso and Braque glued newspaper clippings onto their cubist still-lifes they unwittingly ushered in a new era of wordplay into the history of modern art. The written word was abstracted from the structure of language and introduced as a graphic, artistic element. From the fragmented “word salads” of the Dadaists to the speech balloons of mid-century Pop art, artists have frequently used language, often ironic or enigmatic, to enhance the resonance of their work. In his screenprint Sin (1970), Ed Ruscha transforms the word into a mountainous object that looms over a trompe l’oeil rendering of an olive. According to Ruscha, “words are pattern-like, and in their horizontality they answer my investigation into landscape. They’re almost not words—they are objects that become words.” Art/Word/Image examines the use of language in art through selections from the permanent collection including works by Robert Cottingham, Bruce Nauman, Fred Stonehouse, and John Wilde.

Artwork

Vielen Dank, Jonathan. Artist: Sally Behr. Date: 1978. Medium: mixed media.

Vielen Dank, Jonathan

1978

Sally Behr

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Dukes Conversion. Artist: Harry Bouras. Date: 1962. Medium: welded steel in center of wood triptych, panels painted and stenciled.

Dukes Conversion

1962

Harry Bouras

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Paris Separates. Artist: Patrick Caulfield. Date: 1973. Medium: screenprint.

Paris Separates

1973

Patrick Caulfield

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Your Day in Court. Artist: Warrington Colescott. Date: 1971. Medium: Drypoint, etching, aquatint, woodcut, & soft-ground etching, w roulette, vibrograver, letterpress plate, & relief rolls through stencils.

Your Day in Court

1971

Warrington Colescott

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M. Artist: Robert Cottingham. Date: 1975. Medium: graphite.

M

1975

Robert Cottingham

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Declaration. Artist: William Dole. Date: 1968. Medium: collage.

Declaration

1968

William Dole

On View at MMoCA Learn more about Declaration.
Trou Verge. Artist: Jean Dupuy. Date: 1984. Medium: green and red paint on cloth.

Trou Verge

1984

Jean Dupuy

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Baseball Cap. Artist: Vernon Fisher. Date: 1978. Medium: altered photographs.

Baseball Cap

1978

Vernon Fisher

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Irregular Plural II. Artist: Jane Hammond. Date: 1995. Medium: oil and paper collage on shaped canvas.

Irregular Plural II

1995

Jane Hammond

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Clear Vision. Artist: Bruce Nauman. Date: 1973. Medium: lithograph and screenprint.

Clear Vision

1973

Bruce Nauman

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ZZZIT. Artist: Jim Nutt. Date: 1970. Medium: acrylic on metal (double-sided).

ZZZIT

1970

Jim Nutt

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Sin. Artist: Edward Ruscha. Date: 1970. Medium: screenprint.

Sin

1970

Edward Ruscha

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Scratched in Sand. Artist: David Russick. Date: 1992. Medium: acrylic on canvas.

Scratched in Sand

1992

David Russick

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I Thought I Was in Paradise. Artist: Hollis Sigler. Date: 1995. Medium: oil on canvas with painted frame.

I Thought I Was in Paradise

1995

Hollis Sigler

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AAIEEE!. Artist: Ray Yoshida. Date: 1996. Medium: collage.

AAIEEE!

1996

Ray Yoshida

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