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The distance
between reading and seeing has been an ongoing interest for me. Since
1998 I have
been exploring this space through the use of letterforms, and have
used the letter E as my primary
starting point for the last two years. Since E is often found at the
top of vision charts, I questioned what
I saw as a familiar hierarchy. Was this letter more important than
other letters? E is, after all, the most
commonly used letter in the English language, it denotes a natural
number (2.71828), and has a visual
presence that interests me greatly. In my research E has become a
surrogate for all letters in the
alphabet. It now replaces the other letters and becomes a universal
letter (or Letter), and a string of
Es now becomes a generic language (or Language). This substitution
denies written words their use as
legible signifiers, allowing language to become a vacant parallel
Language— a basis for visual manufacture.
After months of compiling Es into abstract compositions through various
systemic arrangements, I started
recognizing my studio time as a quasi-monastic experience. There was
something sublime about both the
compositions that I was making and the solitude in which they were
made. It was as if I were translating
some great text like a subliterate medieval scribe would have years
ago—with no direct understanding of
the source material. The next logical step was to find a source. Herman
Melville’s novel Moby Dick, a story
rich in theology, philosophy, and psychosis provides me with a roadmap
for my work, but also with a series
of underlying narratives. My drawings, prints, and collages continue
to speak of language and the transferal
of information, but now as a conduit to Melville’s sublime narratives.
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