Throughout the twentieth century, and in particular since the 1960s, artists have mined language for the subject and matter of their art, incorporating the mode, format, and meaning of text into their work.
Collectively, the artists’ works demonstrate an inventive use of words and text, creating work that is visually rich and narratively resonant. They re-examine the codes, symbols, and structures of language, while acknowledging and harnessing the personal and cultural context in which it is produced and understood.
This volume includes 100 full-colour reproductions of the artworks in both exhibitions and essays by the two exhibition curators – Claire Gilman, The Drawing Center, and Kate Macfarlane, Drawing Room – as well as a text by Melissa Gronlund, an editor of Afterall and a writer on contemporary art.
Pavel Büchler (b. 1952, Prague) lives and works in Manchester, UK. Studied at the Institute of Applied Arts and the School of Graphic Arts, Prague. Awarded the Northern Art Prize, (2009); and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists (2012). Select solo exhibitions include Sprengel Museum, Hanover (2016); Ikon, Birmingham (2015); Künstlerhaus Thurn und Taxis, Bregenz (2014); Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (2013); Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis, St. Louis (2011); Kunstparterre, Munich (2010); and DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague (2010). Select group exhibtions include Toda Percepción es una Interpretación: You Are Part of It, CIFO Art Space, Miami (2016); Quand Fondra la neige, où ira le blanc, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice (2016); Generosity: On the Art of Giving, National Gallery, Prague (2015); Last Year at Marienbad: A film as Art, Kunsthalle Bremen (2015); The Problem of God, K21, Düsseldorf (2015); The Allegory of a Cave Painting, Extra City and Middleheim Museum, Antwerp (2014); Speaking in Tongues, CCA, Glasgow (2014); Postscript: Writing after Conceptual Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver (2012); Dot.Systems, Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen (2012); Les Marques Aveugles, Centre D'Art Contemporain, Geneva (2011); From Trash to Treasure, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Kiel (2011); Image to be projected until it vanishes, Museion, Bolzano (2011); Luc Tuymans: A Vision of Central Europe; The Reality of the Lowest Rank, Aurentshuis, Bruges (2010); Under Destruction, Tinguely Museum, Basel (2010); and FischGrätenMelkStand, Temporäre Kunsthalle, Berlin (2010). He is represented by Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin; annex14, Zurich; and Tommy Simoens, Antwerp.
Matias Faldbakken (b. 1973, Denmark) lives and works in Oslo. He studied at the Academy of Fine Art, Bergen, Norway and at the Academy of Fine Art, Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Faldbakken’s practice holds in perpetual tension the forces of proposition and cancellation, vandalism and erasure, aesthetic generosity and conceptual restraint, the possibility of language and its abstraction into illegibility. IN recent works, mass-produced containers are subjected to various manipulations and often rendered useless. The objects he adapts often veer between the iconic and the almost painfully generic. Residencies include: IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden (2004), Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany (2002-03), and NIFCA Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art,Helsinki, Finland (2001). Select solo exhibitions include: Matias Faldbakken, Le Consortium, Dijon, France (2013); Intervention #21: Matias Faldbakken, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2012); Portrait Portrait of of a a Generation Generation, OCA, Oslo, Norway & Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels, Belgium (2012); Matias Faldbakken, The Power Station, Dallas, TX (2011); That Death of Which One Does Not Die, Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (2010); and Shocked into Abstraction, IKON Gallery, Birmingham, UK & National Museum of Oslo, Norway (2009). Selected group exhibitions include: El Rey de Icod, Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Spain (2014); Chat Jet (Part 2) Sculpture in Reflection, Künstlerhaus, Halle für Kunst & Medien, Graz, Austria (2014); Take Liberty!, The National Museum of Art, Design & Architecture, Oslo, Norway (2014); The Crime Was Almost Perfect, Witte de With, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2014); and Marking Language, Drawing Room, London (2013). Faldbakken has work in many public collections, including: FRAC, Nord Pas de Calais, Dunkerque; DekaBank, Frankfurt am Main; The Dmitris Daskalopoulos Collection, Athens; Jumex Collection, Mexico City; The National Museum of Art, Design and Architecture, Oslo; The Speyer Family Collection, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and The Rubell Family Collection, Miami. He is represented by Simon Lee Gallery, London / Hong Kong; Standard (OSLO), Oslo, Norway; Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, CH; and Paula Cooper, New York, NY.
Karl Holmqvist (b. Vasteras, Sweden, 1964) lives and works in Berlin. His work mainly focuses on language and the ambiguous possibilities of double meaning and direct messaging. Select solo exhibitions include Kunstverein Braunschweig (with Klara Liden), Power Station, Dallas (2016); and Camden Arts Centre, London (2016). He participated in the Venice Biennial (2003, 2011); and Performa, New York (2005, 2007, 2013).
Annabel Daou was born and raised in Beirut and lives in New York. Her work takes place at the intersection of writing, speech, and non-verbal modes of communication. Daou represented the US at the 12th International Cairo Biennale and was awarded a Biennale Prize. She held a residency at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York (2002-2007) and was a Brown Foundation Fellow in Residence at the Dora Maar House, Ménerbes, France (2008). Selected solo exhibitions and performances include: your secret is safe with me, Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin (2014); Fortune, MoMA PS1 (2013);and you say I want revolution, Josee Bienvenu Gallery, New York (2012). Selected group exhibitions include: Territoire d'Affects, Beirut Exhibition Center, Beirut (2015); Drawing Biennial 2015, Drawing Room, London (2015); Art=Text=Art, UB Anderson Gallery, The University at Buffalo, New York (2014); Marking Language, The Drawing Room, London (2013); Discussing Metamodernism, Galerie Tanja Wagner, Berlin (2012); Political / Minimal, Kunstwerke, Berlin/Muzeum Sztuki w Lodzi, Lodz, Poland (2008/2009); Democracy In America, Creative Time, The Park Avenue Armory, NY (2008). She is co-founder of dBfoundation, a group dedicated to creating and fostering ephemeral edifices and intangible structures, and of S2A (s2anyc.com), a platform for the arts based in New York.
Johanna Calle (b. 1965, Bogotá, Colombia) lives and works in Bogotá. She studied at Chelsea College of Art, London, and the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá. Selected solo exhibitons include: Grafos, Galeria Marilia Razuk, São Paulo, Brazil (2014); Frieze Art Fair, Casas Riegner, London (2013); Krinzinger Residencies, Krinzinger Gallery, Vienna (2013); Johanna Calle - Perspectivas, Galerie IVOKAMM Zurich, Switzerland (2013); Intertextos, Marilia Razuk Gallery, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2012); Irregular Hexagon, Colombian Art in Residence, Sàn Art, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2012); Signos, Casas Riegner Gallery, Bogota (2011); Submergentes: A Drawing Approach to Masculinities, MOLAA Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, USA (2011); Variaciones, Casas Riegner Gallery, Bogota (2010); and Perspectivas, MUZAC, Cordoba, Colombia (2010). Selected group exhibitions include: Drawing Biennial 2015, Drawing Room, London (2015); 31 São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil (2014); SITElines: New Perspectives on Art of the Americas, SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, USA (2014); Transvisible, 19 Bienal de Arte Paiz, Guatemala (2014); América Latina 1960-2013. Fotos + Textos, Museo Amparo, Puebla, México (2014); LINES, Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland (2014); Artists Engaged? Maybe, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (2014); Realidades en Conflicto, Espacio ArtNexus, Bogotá (2014); Art|45|Basel – Feature, Casas Riegner, Basel, Switzerland (2014); Frieze New York, Casas Riegner, New York (2014/13); América Latina 1960-2013, Foundation Cartier pour l’ art contemporain, Paris (2013); Marking Language, Drawing Room, London (2013); Saber Desconocer, 43 Salón (Inter)Nacional de Artistas, Medellín, Colombia (2013); When Attitudes Became Form, Become Attitudes, Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2012); From the Age of the Poets, Aanant & Zoo Gallery, Berlin (2012); Optimismo Radical, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York (2012); Untitled, 12 Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2011); Premio Bienal de Artes Plásticas y Visuales, Bogotá 2010, Fundación Gliberto Alzate Avendaño, Bogotá (2010); and Oeuvres sur papier, Galerie Catherine Putman, Paris (2010). Calle is represented by Casa Reigner, Bogotá, Colombia.
Bernardo Ortiz (b. 1972, Bogotá, Colombia) lives and works in Bogotá. From 1990-1995 he studied for a BFA in Visual Arts from Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá and an Associate Degree in Literature from University of the Andes, Bogotá, followed by a MA in Philosophy at Universidad del Valle, Cali (2000-2002). His recent solo shows include Essay, Casas Riegner, Bogotá (2013); Game Piece, with Erick Beltrán, Casas Riegner, Bogotá and Volt, Bergen (2013); Ephemeropterae, TBA 21, Vienna (2013); Drawings, Casas Riegner, Bogotá (2011); and Model No2. Fragment of Oct.12, 2011, Frieze Art Fair, Frame, Casas Riegner Gallery, London (2011). Ortiz's recent group exhibitions include Secret Codes, Luisa Strina Gallery, São Paulo (2013); The Circle walked Casually, Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, Berlin (2013); Ignoring Saber, 43 room (Inter) National Artists, Medellín (2013); Nominees Canson Prix Exhibition, Petit Palais, Paris (2013); Music, Casas Riegner, Bogotá (2013); Marking Language, Drawing Room, London (2013); 30th São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo (2012); Modern Fictions, Bogota Chamber of Commerce, Bogotá (2012); Empathy, Houses Riegner Gallery, Bogotá (2012); Modelling Standard, Galeria Joan Prats, Barcelona (2012); and Air de Lyon, Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires (2012).
