When I read the description of this art opening, I had to attend. Every single work of art was, in some shape or form, repurposed from the printed word.
These portraits were printed upon book pages.
Another artist had placed 256 words atop the head of nails and fixed them with resin, then bound the nails together. This batch contained English words.
These Spanish nails had the same 256 words.
I would’ve loved to have spoken to this artist who made the erasure poems. I’ve never seen someone transform found objects and turn them into poetry.
The young male-oriented conservative text was turned on its ear. This one reads: “To get somewhere, you’ve got to be willing to give up.”
And this one reads: “By taking advantage of others, you will get a real thrill.”
Part of the reason this collection drew me in was due to my yearlong project to repurpose a vocabulary-building book as an upcoming Christmas gift for one of my nephews. Of course, I had my work-in-progress in my purse. I shared the motivation behind its creation and allowed others to peruse what I’d come up with so far. Most seemed fascinated that I’d cut out so many “cheesecake shots,” as one woman referred to the gentleman magazine pictures of women. When I showed the curator of the gallery collection my work, she enthusiastically agreed she’d take the 12 magazines that I’d cut the pictures from. I returned the next day to donate them since she sponsored a creative room for people to repurpose print material.