Monday, April 2, 2012

ism  breath she  who  with  I

By Patrick Sutczak


Work by Nancy Mauro-Flude
Sawtooth Gallery March 2 – 24, 2012

The written word represents a certain type of symbol, one akin to the image, but somewhat removed due to the strict parameters of shape that make it discernible to a broad audience who are able to instantly identify and read what has been assembled via a careful hand. Written words have structure because it is the individual letters retaining the rules that define them that makes the word itself possible. A word is but the sum of its letters. A word is but a sum of the context in which it is applied. ‘I’ means little. ‘I love you’ says a lot. It is the combination, the arrangement, and the art of formation that makes the written word so beautiful.

What happens then when the written word becomes type, and when the type becomes computer text, and the computer text becomes something more than the written word on screen? It becomes something that most of us are unlikely to access or even understand. It becomes code.