LOOK AT: Artists who use text in their work including: Yoko Ono, Jenny Holzer, John Baldessari, Barbara Krueger, Geurilla Girls, and Shelly Niro. And more contemporary examples including: Nadia Myre, Joi T. Arcand, Jon Rubin, Eleanor King, Micah Lexier, Lenka Clayton, Alisha Wormsley and Germaine Koh.
John Balderssari:
- I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art, 1971
- Tips for Artists Who Want to Sell, 1966-1968
Lenka Clayton:
- Fruit and Other Things, 2018
Germaine Koh:
– Dear Mercer, 2006
Yoko Ono:
– Grapefruit, 1964
– Billboards since 1960s, e.g. Fly, 1996; War is Over, 2008
Jenny Holzer,
– Truisms, since 1980
– Survival Series, 1986
Barbara Kruger,
– Untitled (Your body is a battleground), 1989
– BELIEF+DOUBT, since 2012
Guerrilla Girls,
– Guerrilla Girls Definition Of A Hypocrite, 1990
Shelley Niro,
– The Shirt (detail), 2003
Joi T. Arcand,
– Northern Pawn, South Vietnam, 2009
– Amber Motors, 2009
Nadia Myre,
– Indian Act, 2002
Eleanor King,
– No Justice No Peace, 2015
Jon Rubin:
– The Last Billboard, 2010-2018
- WRITE: Select ONE artwork from above. Show one image, with a paragraph describing the work on your blog page. Discuss how the artists use media (materials, platform, format) to express their message. How is the medium relevant to the message in each case? How are viewers expected to relate to the text in each case? (Write approx. 250 words).
Shelley Niro, The Shirt (detail), 2003