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PAUL KASMIN GALLERY - The Written Trace

547 views · Published 26 June 2015 · 8:58 · Indexed 6 November 2026

Channel: NYC GALLERY OPENINGS · 2015 · Entertainment

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THE WRITTEN TRACE

CURATED BY ARIELLA WOLENS

JUN 25, 2015 - AUG 14, 2015

Paul Kasmin Gallery is pleased to 
announce The Written Trace, a group 
exhibition curated by Ariella Wolens, on 
view at 293 Tenth Avenue from June 25 – 
August 14, 2015. Including works by 
canonical figures John Baldessari, 
William N. Copley, Martin Kippenberger 
and Ed Ruscha, as well as contemporary 
artists such as Katerina Jebb, Goshka 
Macuga, Brian O’Doherty and Song 
Dong, among others. This exhibition 
focuses on the indefinable aspect of the 
medium of text.  It is an exploration of 
that which is communicated through 
sight, a consideration of the visual 
qualities of words as we abstract them 
from their connotations.

There is a progression of mediums, 
beginning with the painted word, as 
seen in the early Christian illuminated 
text, The Hours of Jacques Hurault, 
1500-1510. The calligraphic inscriptions 
are written in the style of bâtarde, a 
technique later echoed in the work of 
Evan McGraw and Zachary Susskind. The 
correspondence of image and text here 
demonstrates archaic forms of 
illustration, a critical aspect of this 
subject that is later championed in 
contemporary art by the comics of R. 
Crumb.

Written text as an aesthetic element of 
art became crucial in the 1960s and 70s, 
particularly in the work of John 
Baldessari. In the artist’s film, I Will Not 
Make Any More Boring Art, 1977, 
repetition of a declarative statement 
dictates the structure of the work, 
offering a connection between language 
and the medium of film. Evan McGraw’s 
works on paper from 2014, License, 
Blizzard, and Number 5, reflect the 
outcome of Baldessari’s repetitive hand-
written works, yet greater importance is 
placed on calligraphic skill and the 
materials - parchment paper and eternal 
ink. Ed Ruscha, perhaps the master of 
textual representation in contemporary 
art, treats words as objects.  In this 
exhibition, the prefix ‘Strato’ is presented 
against a field of color that shifts from 
red to black.  Disconnected from its base, 
the word may be appreciated for its 
formal qualities.  The letters are imposed 
across the length of the canvas, made to 
highlight what the artist calls the ‘rolling 
roundness’ of the letters.

If language is dependent on correlations 
of knowledge, the only universal aspect 
of writing is the pure signification of the 
textual mark. With the endless 
subjectivity of linguistic meaning, the 
only grasp on language is the written 
trace left upon a page.

Artists included in this exhibition are 
John Baldessari, Phoebe Collings-James, 
William N. Copley, Shaun Crawford, R. 
Crumb, Katerina Jebb, Deborah Kass, 
Martin Kippenberger, Dylan Kraus, 
Goshka Macuga, Evan McGraw, John 
Miller, Ivan Navarro, Brian O’Doherty, 
Oliver Osborne, Dieter Roth & Björn 
Roth, Ed Ruscha, Rose Salane, Mira 
Schendel, Song Dong, and Zachary 
Susskind.

Ariella Wolens is a writer and curator 
based in New York City. She received her 
Master’s Degree in Curating and Criticism 
of Modern Art from Columbia University 
and in January 2014 curated Bloody 
English at OHWOW Gallery in Los 
Angeles. Wolens is the arts editor for Hot 
and Cool, an independent magazine 
based in London. She has written for 
publications including Acne Paper, Dazed 
& Confused, i-D, and Purple Fashion 
Magazine.


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[email protected]

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