I arranged this small exhibition at Teachers College, Columbia University, where I am pursuing my doctoral studies. It features a handful of examples of creative handwriting by four different individuals: John Whisler, a Pennsylvania German school master born in the late 18th century; Robert Grenier, a contemporary poet associated with the Language school; and Christine Heindl and Carlos Martinez Ramos, both contemporary abstract painters living in New York City. Each creator has used handwriting in idiosyncratic ways that verge on—or become—drawing. In these intimate works, these creators have deviated from the typical formations of letters, they’ve used line phenomenologically, and they’ve composed the written page like an artist would a picture. In each case, we experience something in excess of symbolic language systems. They remind us that reading unfolds through time and space, that it is dynamic and textured.
“The Time Monitor, The Space Measurer” in Macy Gallery at Teachers College, Columbia University; May 22 - June 13, 2019.
Overview of the exhibition “The Time Monitor, The Space Measurer”
Robert Grenier; a selection of pages (scanned and printed) from his notebooks of “drawn” poems, 2003-2005; in the collection of the Columbia Rare Books and Manuscripts Library
Carlos Martinez Ramos; a selection of pages (scanned and printed) from his notebooks, 2010-2012; in the collection of the artist
Carlos Martinez Ramos; two notebooks from 2010-2012
Christine Heindl; notebooks ca. 2017; collection of the artist
Christine Heindl; a notebook, ca. 2017; collection of the artist
Christine Heindl; notebooks, ca. 2017; collection of the artist