Mental pictures drawings and objects

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1995

Mental pictures drawings and objects

Deborah Rieders

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Recommended Citation

MENTAL

PICTURES

DRAWINGS

AND

OBJECTS

GRADUATE

THESIS

B

Y

DEBORAH RIEDERS

19 9 5

SCHOOL OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS& SCIENCES

TH ESIS BOARD:

RICI< HOCK

ALEX MIOI<OVIC

ELAI N E O'N ElL

J

EFF WEI 55 (ON 5AB BATI CAL)

usur ur nru _pef san sins. Now _day that ofthe

_

<=>

<4>^^

pu er qeres

it is at thesarcophagus of

_____ _____

u

-=___

III =__> ^^

tntn h~ ,..._

Figure 1. Anexample ofhierogylphics from theEgyptian BookoftheDead.

Many

artists of the _{20th century have}

prophesied a worldinwhich symbols

will _eventually replace alphabetic language as the

most accurate and effective means of_{communicating}

inour

increasingly

technologicalworld.Eversincethe

appearance of

Sanskrit,

the world's earliest known phonetic

language,

symbolshaveoftenbeenviewedas anawkward andcum

bersome _way to

describe the world around us. While

pic-tographic languages such asHieroglyphics

require an infinite

number of symbols

that_{increase proportionately}to thenumbers of objects in the material _world, phonetic languages utilize a restricted and oral alphabet in order to describe the

minutedetailsof_{everyday life}(fig. 1). Inpicture-writ

ing,

the images themselves "constitutetheir ownlan guage...the writer and reader may use words to describe and interpret the pictorial _message, but the

messageisnot weddedto_anyparticularsetof

words,"

as itwouldbe inan alphabeticlanguage.1

By

thestan dardsof phonetic_writing,pictographiclanguageoften appears both imprecise and open to discursive inter pretation. In _my current

body

of work, Mental

Pictures,

I hope to explore the _confusing and often humorous terrain of our culture as the pictographic language ofthe digital age threatens to subsume lan guageand_permanently alter

history

asweknowit.

In spite oftheircontingentnature, pictograph icsymbolshaveoften played animportantroleinsoci

ety throughouthistory.

They

have served

importantly,

and often controversially, as religious

icons,

trade

marks, secret _codes, public displays for advertising,

and universal signage to _convey information across linguistic barriers. Over the last century,

technology

has brought us more symbols than the restof

history

combined.

They

have been

brought to us through the

invention and popularization

of _{photography, cheap} print

ing,

television, motion pic

tures, fax machines, and now,

most significantly, computers

and digital media. The chal

lenge of _revealing the power

OfSymbols inthe 20thCentU- _{Figure2. Filippo Tommaso} Marinetti,

ry has beentaken_up

by

_many

"scRABrrRn-oaNNG,", 1919. artists whose work has influ

enced this current project. Before

delving

_{into my} work, I would like to

briefly

discuss some of these

artists inorderto provide abroader historicalcontext for myproject.

In the _early part of this _{century both} the

Dadaists and the Futurists recognized the

impending

transformation of language into the symbolic realm. Thepolitical posters made

by

thefuturist Marinetti in

the _early part of the

century transform text

into symbols in order

to challenge the con struction of _meaning

in a violent culture

dominated

by

mechan- Figure 3._Duchampand Man Ray,

"Rotoreliefs,"

1935. ical reproduction (fig.

2).

Duchamp

andMan

Ray

reflected rather_amusing

ly

uponthe

blurring

oflines betweenword andimages

spin with the

help

of a rather

flimsy

mechanical

device,

nonsensical constructions ofwords blend into

abstract geometric

backgrounds,

_making the texts

absolutely impossibletodecipher. Beforethesepieces

inevitably

break down due to

faulty

mechanisms, the

wordsthemselvesbecome lost intheblurof theoffset

printeddesigns on the front. More recently, the work

ofJasper Johnsrecognizedthe tremendousimportance

ofthesesymbols

by

_askingus to"lookat,ratherthan through"

language inorderto_{locate meaning (fig.} 4).2

By

isolating

the alphabet in his letter and number

paintings Johns re-imbues language with ritualistic

meaning

by

equatingthemwiththesymbols of

pre-lit-eratecultures.

The

Pop

Artists predicted the enormous

impact reproductive technologies would have on our

personal iconography's

by

_utilizing these _very same

techniquesintheirartwork.

By

_creatingmultiple

silk-screens, Warhol suc

cessfully distilled the

political complexities

of an entire decade

into one graphic _rep

resentation, the head

ofJackie Onassis (fig.

5). This image alone

became the "archetypal image that crystallized

American political and social history."3

Roy

Figure5._AndyWarhol,"Jackie II

Lichtenstein,

on the other

hand,

incorporated the ben

day

dot pattern and the car

toonbubble into hispaintings

inordertoremakethe artistic

canon _according to the pre

sent-day stylistic conventions

of mass-production and

pop-fPpz

ular culture. Paintings fabri- Fl9ure 6- RyLichtenstein,

"StudyforTemple II,"

1965.

catedinthisstyle,such ashis

classical remake

Study

for Temple

II,

for example,

evokean

interesting

paradox(fig. 6). Ontheone

hand,

they

poke fun at thecanon

by

"reducing

his subject matterto stylistic absurdity."4 _On

the other

hand,

the

verysubject matteritselfseems _{overwhelmingly}pre

occupied with _maintaining the legitimization of the

canoninspite oftechnologicalchanges.

By

specifical

ly isolating

the recognizable elements of the great

masterpieces, Lichtenstein's paintings become "ele

vatedto the status of_signs",andinturnstarttoreveal the_makingofstereotypes in industrialculture.

During

this time theminimalists_{starting using}

industrial fabrication techniques tocreate tautological

worksthat shut outthe"din and_cacophony of

[their]

sensory overloaded world."5 _The

conceptual artists

adopted similarreductive strategiesinordertoaddress

more_specificallythephilosophical_relationshipoflan

guageto_{contemporary life.}

Taking

linguistic

theory

as

their point of

departure,

conceptual artists such as

Joseph Kosuth made workthat

directly

addressedthe

disparity

betweentextandimage. In Kosuth'sfamous

piece,OneandThree

Chairs,

heplaces a_chair, a pic ture of a chair, and thedefinition of"chair,"in aline [image:5.564.63.242.42.161.2]

:fM-2MK.. :y22> >mm':':';':':o:':'::':::'

w.

Thisjuxtaposition forces us to confront the fact that

the object is perhaps no more "real," than either its

descriptionorits image. Languageand visual symbol

become

interchangeable.

Located somewhere _{uncomfortably between}

the Minimalists and the Conceptualists lies the work

of Sol Lewitt. While Lewitt's sculptures and wall

drawingsoftenlook like Minimalistart,

they

are more concerned with the social and philosophical ideas of theconceptual artiststhan theminimalists'

etymologi-|H

cally-driven questions

about the nature of "truthin art."

Relying

on geometrical forms

asthe

building

blocks

ofhis_work,Lewitt lit

erally transforms

written instructions into symbolic_{forms. In his early Language}

Drawings,

for example, Lewitt

logically

forms words into sen tences that describe their exact location on thepage. These pieces suggest the

difficulty

of

transforming

symbols into language while atthe same time act as

"wry

commentaries on technical

language,

including

the impenetrable texts written about conceptual art."6

Claiming

Muybridge as one ofhis major

influences,

Lewitt works in a serial and repetitive manner that seems a"perfect exam ple

[of]

the machine which makes art and a sort of language."7 His Wall Drawings are all

created

by

craftspeople

Figure8. SolLeWitt,"ThreetoNine _according tO explicit Pointed Blue StarswithYellowBorders . . ,

andRed

Backgrounds,"

1983-88. instructionsand

maque-Figure 7. JoephKosuth, "OneandThree

Chairs,"

1965.

ttes provided

by

Lewitt (fig. 8). While Lewitt plans these pieces in advance, he always allows, and

embraces, the

irrationality

ofthe collaborative effort.

According

to

Lewitt,

"irrational judgments leadtonew experience...irrational thoughts should be followed

absolutelyandlogically."8 . Atthesametime

they

also

take a political stance

by defetishizing

the aesthetic

object itself. Most

interesting

to me,

however,

is the fact that Lewitt engages in a philosophical dialogue

about _art-making with his audience while concomi

tantly

creating

truly

expressive paintingsthatreference real world experience.

Two German photographers often interpreted in thecontext oftheMinimalistandtheconceptualist

art _movements, the

Bechers,

have had a tremendous influenceon _my work foryears.

By

_exhibiting serial

gridsofindustrialstructures,theBechers'workacts as

bothanindex and exploration ofour _{changing indus}

trial society. While their _seemingly straightforward approach reveals a rigorousadherence toformal con

cerns, theresulting worksmanifesttheways inwhich technological developments influence cultural prac

tice.

By

_emphasizing the research _process, images suchasBlast Furnace

Heads,

_successfullytransform banal industrialobjectsintoculturalicons loadedwith historicalsignificance(fig.9).

They

alsoallow us_entry into their anthropomorphic

qualities andinturn"allowus to

identify

with the individu

alityofstructures

[by

_convey

ing]

qualities of

beauty

and

humor."9

Both Jennifer Bartlett

andEva Hesse systematically

approach their artistic media

^9^

9. Bemdand H.lla [image:6.564.15.268.127.358.2]

with the hope of _{yielding irrational} results. Once

again,bothoftheseartists engagein serious

notation-al research which mimic the habits of the engineer.

While Hesse kept extensive notebooks _{outlining her}

future paintings and

drawings,

_Bartlett employed

mathematical systems

from the start as a

means of

"getting

work done."10

By

applying these artifi

cial systems to their

Figure 10. EvaHesse, "Untitled," 1964.

artwork, I believethat

bothartists_eventuallyarrivedat a placeinwhichtheir

artworktranscended theirwritten instructions.

Hesse,

ontheone

hand,

usedthese plansto_eventually create

iconic drawings and sculpture which mirrored their

mechanisticbeginnings. Her drawings fromthe _early

60's,

for _example, are described

by Lucy

Lippard as

"shapesorganicinsource,

humorously

combined with

machineappurtenances,

joints,

nozzles,rims,cords."11

These drawings were the predecessors of her more

well-known sculptures inwhich she combinesindus

trialdebris in a minimalist mannerthatoftensymbol

ically

allude to sexual and psychological states (fig.

10). Like

Hesse,

Bartlett's linguistic systems also led

to the

discovery

ofher signature style; the steel plate

fabricated into graph paper.

By

_{systematically apply}

ing

model paints to these modular units, Bartlett's

work often mirrorsthe

pixelatedscreen ofthe

computer.Inthepiece

Chicken

Tracks,

Bartlett specifically

references the para

doxical terrain Of the _{Figure 1]}JenniferBartlett, "Chicken

Tracks," 1973.

digitalworld

by

_givingus chaos out of order and real

ity

out of a virtual world of abstractions (fig. 1 1).

A _{loose grouping}ofartists_callingthemselves

theNeo-Geo movement emergedin theeightiesin an

attempttochallengethesymbolic order of signs mul

tiplying

in conjunction withdigital technologies. The

founder of _{this group,} artist and critic Peter

Halley,

posited this movement within an environment he

described as one in which "hard geometries [ofthe

industrial revolution] have given _way to the soft

geometries of interstate

highways,

computers, and

electronic entertain

ment."12 _Influenced

by

the writings of

both Foucault and

->

"-^j

K\

't'j?*C

~f

Baudrillard,

their

Uj

gang

work undertakes a fJfA

'

rjj-i-N

jjf

~Y

']-J[

-V

deconstructive cri- Figure 12. BernardTschumi,"M24,The

Block," 1981.

tique of geometric

form inour publiciconography. Drawingssuch asThe

Block,

by

Bernard Tschumijuxtapose human behavior

(walking),

withtheregimented and gridded streets of

the modem _{city in} order to critique the geometric

imperatives advanced

by

theBauhaus movement and

currently embraced

by

the corporate world (fig. 12).

By

reducing human behavior and

living

spaceto dia

grams, much of this work alludes to the negative

aspects of

living

in atechnocraticworld.

The work ofthese artists also recognizes the

often duplicitous nature of digital technologies

by

visually

incorporating

the same seductive symbolism

they

attempt_{to critique,} as described

by

Peter

Halley

We are

today

enraptured

by

the _very geome

tries thatonce represented coercivediscipline.

Today

children sit for hours fascinated

by

the day-glogeometricdisplaysof video games... as

adults we

finally

gain accesstoparticipationin

our cybernetic

hyyperreal,

with its charge

cards, answering machines and professional hierarchies...we can play the corporate game,

theinvestmentgame,or eventheartgame.13

Thepaintings ofRoss

Bleckner,

forexample,dazzlethe

viewer withtheir_{optically lush}applications ofcolor and

symbolism(fig. 13). Oftenregarded as meditationson

the natureof

death,

_{especially in} the age of

AIDS,

his

paintingsreflect the human impulsetowards transcen

dentalismintroubledanddestructivetimes.Thecircuit

paintings ofPeter

Halley

emit a similar mysticismin

their

dazzling

use of_{color,especially} goldand

floures-Figure 13. RossBleckner, "Two

Knights Not Nights,"

1988.

cents. In Halley'swork,

however,

we seethegeomet

ric formof the circuit employed as a simulation of a

worldinwhich all_{reality has been}reducedtoa system

of abstract signs(fig. 14).Halley'swork embodiesthe

notionthatwelive ina

"hyperreal"

worldinwhich all

referents have been destroyed and replaced

by

falla

ciousgeometric signifiers of meaning.

TwoCellswith

ConduitondUnderground

Chamber," 1983.

Figure 15. MattMullican, "Cosmological

Model," 1991.

Theageof simulationthusbeginswithaliqui

dationofallreferentials-worse:

by

theirartifi

cial resurrection in systems ofsigns, a more ductilematerial than meaning, in thatit lends

itselfto all systems ofequivalence, all

binary

oppositions, andall_combinatoryalgebra.14

Since the 1970's Matt Mullican has been cre

ating symbols that simulate catalogues of_everything

from domesticobjectsto_{cosmology (fig. 15).}

Many

of

these symbols have been rendered as mass-produced

objects and then placed back into the context ofthe

real world asan exploration ofthewaysin whichthe

viewercompletes _{meaning based} on personal experi

ence.

Means of representation fromthe applied arts

provides a _way of _{realizing signs, extending} them to specific contents of experience..

.by

using these different _objects, he represents

social relationships which form the basis of

our assimilation

in,

or orientation_to,reality.15

While Mullican continues to explore the geometric

terrain of the Neo-Geo artists, the self-conscious

placement ofhis symbols outside ofthe _gallerymore

[image:8.564.100.205.331.509.2]

forms in our _everyday lives.

By

juxtaposing

his ban

ners, for

instance,

withthe signage ofthereal _world,

Mullican

immediately

revealsthewaysinwhich sym

bols of commercial culture _{subtly infiltrate} our sub

conscious mind.

They

alsodrawattentionto the_ubiq

uitouspresence of symbolsinourindustrial landscape

by

appropriating the already established

iconography

ofthecorporate world.Ina seriesofbannersmadefor

a public installation in

Paris,

for

instance,

heusesthe

AT&Tglobelogoas a representationofwhathecalls

the World Unframed. This banner

ironically

uses the

visual strategies of the corporate world in order to

reflect upon our_growing global economy, as compa

nies now spend "millions of dollars

developing

or

changingthepicture sign

by

whichitwillbe identified

tomillions ofcustomers."16_As

multinational compa

nies continue to grow, we start to see a _shifting of

nationalboundaries based oneconomicexpediencies.

On the one

hand,

symbols offer an effective _way to

communicate between nations whose phonetic lan

guages often differ greatly.

Paradoxically, they

also

furtheradvancethe

technocracy

by

_manipulatingcon

sumers on aninternational scale.

Throughout his_career,Bruce Nauman hasalso

recognized the power of signs in our_{everyday lives.}

By

preemptingvernaculardevices for hisown creative

explorations, he provides us with a_witty and somber

reminder of the _ambiguity of language. In his neon

pieces, called _specifically

"signs"

andnot _sculptures,

Nauman transforms words into abstract symbols that

obfuscate theiroriginalmeanings. His piece,

My

Last

Name Extended _vertically 14

Times,

addresses the

audienceinadirect waythrough the_clarityofitscon

struction, the neon

tubing

(fig. 16). It also,

however,

dramatizes "the abstraction inherent in

identifying

objects and ideas with

words"17

by

rendering his last

name illegible through its

elongation.Thewiderange of

materials Nauman employs

reveals both his participation

in the

"history

of form," as

well as reflectsthe

diversity

of

culturalobsessionsinherent in

his work, ranging from the

linguistic and _{the political, tO} Figure 16. BruceNauman, "MyLast NameExtended

the psychological, SOCial and

Vertically 14Times," 1967

philosophical.18

Like the

Minimalists,

Felix Gonzales-Torres

also recalls the tenets of modem _{capitalism, namely}

repetition andreproducibility,asaninvitation forusto

participate in the construction of meaning. His work

reveals a strugglewiththe"informationexplosion,and

his attempts to reshape this huge mass of material

through _{its relationship} with his own lived experi

ence."19 _He

accomplishes this goal

by

translating

the

abundance ofinformation in our world into personal

narrativesthatinvolvetheaudienceas collaborator.In

Untitled, 1989,

forexample,Torres displayed ablack

billboard on Christopher street, above a cigar _store,

with the words "People with

AIDS Coalition 1985 Police

Harassment 1969 Oscar

Wilde 1895 Supreme Court

1986

Harvey

Milk 1977

March on Washington 1987

Stonewall Rebellion 1969,"

printedin relatively small let

ters atthe bottomofthe sign _F^uTe 17 Fei gonzoiez

(fig. 17). The words them- Torres,

"Untitled,"

[image:9.564.296.548.40.267.2]

selves refer

enigmatically

and_abstractlyto the

history

of _{the area,} most _specifically its involvement in the

Gay

Rights movement. The emptiness of the black

area atthe_{top,meanwhile,}invitesustoplace animage

ofour own

devising

abovethese_politicallysuggestive

words, _recognizing once again the _contingency of

meaning inlanguage. Thiswork subvertsthecustom

aryobjective ofthebillboard

by imbuing

thesite with

an_ambiguitythat contradictstheconventional aims of

advertising.Atthe sametimeit drawsourattentionto

thefactthatperhapslanguage plays aduplicitous role

intheadvancementof politicaland economic agendas.

Torres doesnot,

however,

cynicallyregardthe

mass-production of commercial objects as a perma

nent threat toourhappiness. Piecessuch ashis candy

and paper stacks manipulate _modem-day excess in a

way which _ultimately rescues us fromthe _alienating

mechanisms of con

temporary life,

includ

ing

everything from

factoriesto ourcultur

al institutions them

selves (fig. 18). The

stark andpristine exe

cution of the pieces

themselvesfurtherthisnotion

by

_appealingtobothour

romantic and whimsical sensibilities. In my opinion,

theinherent dualitiesofhiswork, aswell asthatof all

the aforementioned artists

(public/private,

political/personal,intellectual/emotional, systematic/

chaotic), ultimately averts the charge of _pedantry

attributed to a lot of artists _{playing in} the forest of

signs.

As the first half of this paper has probably

madeclear,I'vespentthelastcouple of years

looking

Figure 18. FelixGonzalez-Torres, "Untitled,"

1991.

seriously at the work of _{many contemporary} artists

engaged in avisual dialogue withlanguage.

My

cur

rent work straddles the line between the fictional

worlds ofliterature

(my

undergraduate_major)and_my

more pragmatic forays into adulthood

trying

to _sup

portmyselfinour

increasingly

technological world.

Upon graduation fromcollege I sought out a

curatorial positionin photography. When this proved

tobe animpossible waytomake a

living,

_{my interest}

in imagesand wordsledme_naturallyto thecomputer.

Ispentfouryears aftercollege _earningmy

living

as a

graphic designer while_making photographs of urban

landscapesontheside(fig.

19, 20,

21). While I didn't

realizeit atthetime, this period of_{my life}was over

shadowed

by

theoppressive architecture ofthe city. I

worked in claustrophobic office buildings

during

the

day,

and triedto live in

tiny

apartments in badneigh

borhoodsatnight.ThephotographsImade

during

this

period of_{my life}arebest described inthe_{overly dra}

matic words ofPeter

Halley,

inreferenceto theRobert

Smithson's photographs of Paramus New

Jersey,

as

"geometric monuments of the enlightenment trans

formed into instruments of sadomasochistic confine

ment and torture."20

Eventually

safety issues led me

topursue escortedvisits to publicworks sitesaround

the city. _{This began my}

journey

into the world of

researchthat_{has informed my images}ever since.

When IcametoRochester Icontinuedtopur

sue industrial photog

raphy for awhile. For

thefirstreviewImade

a series of pictures

that attempted to re

write the

history

of

theworldaround

Figure 19. Deborah Rieders, "Public/PrivateWorks,"

Figure20. Deborah Rieders,

"Public/PrivateWorks,"

1992-3.

Figure 21. Deborah Rieders,

"Public/PrivateWorks,"

1992-3.

industrial refuse (fig.

22,

23).

By imposing

pseudo-historicaltexts

directly

onto_myphotographs,I hoped

toremake

history

_according to_myown personal asso

ciationsbetween industrialandhistoricalrelics.In my

opiniontheseattempts failedtobemore thanone lin

ers, and _{I quickly} started a project informed

by

_my

new suburban_setting, the_{growing hype} around com

puters, and _my extensive _study of _contemporary art,

inspired

by

_{my re-entry into}graduateschool.

This project appropriated the first mass-pro

duced video-game,

Pong,

and inserted it into a dia

loguewith conceptual art.FirstIusedthecomputerto

recreatethe fontusedin theoriginal game created

by

Nolan Bushnell in 1972. Then I recreated 10

Pong

screenson alargescale andinstalledthemaroundthe

periphery of a studio (fig. 24).

Accompanying

these

imageswastheoriginal sound split

by

afourtrackinto

the left and right

speakers of a stereo.

This piece subverts

the original aims of

the minimalists

by

translating a relic of

mychildhoodintothe

W^PPPPP. :P:2]P.:-^

'iSJxSj-;!:! :.:::."'.

':..:;' . . *i houseda varictvofwild

ani-m lis:.before_tfieywereallowedto combat on-Kanorjier.ie'tltedeath inthesteal

*sc_mgames, liueto thecombined

stenchofanimal.fecesand_dyingflesh stir-rmtttd-imthese cages,tfteywere_usually rclc-;_{gatedto th*outskirts}

of townwherethe cjaa classfrequented onlyas occasional

Iterto.-tlieselfetck.roussportingevents.

Figure22. DeborahRieders,

"Cages,"

1994.

"central, frontal,

regu

lar,

repetitive,

black,

empty"

format of an

Ad Reinhardt painting

(fig. 25). These

images re-examine

the purpose Of art

by

Figure23. DeborahRieders,

"Balance,"

. '

1992-3.

suggesting that artists

no longer bear the _{responsibility} of

finding

"higher

truth,"

but

instead,

revealthewaysin whichtechnolo

gy informs cultural practiceandperception.

Figure24. DeborahRieders,"Pong,"

1994.

When automatism frees millions ofhours for

leisure,

art should gain ratherthandiminishin

importance,

forwhile art is notjust play, it is

thecounterpointtowork. Thetime_may come

when art is everyone's

daily

_occupation, though there is no reason to think that this

activitywillbecalledart.21

In the above paragraph _{Lippard aptly describes} the

prevailing attitudes oftoday's _{society in} which desk

top

computingoftenmasquerades as art practice.This

attitude manifests itself in the _{relationship between}

rapidly shrinking art budgets and the _skyrocketing

sales of video games andentertainment.In 1993 Time

magazine reportedthat"video-gamesrakein$5.3bil

[image:11.564.16.275.39.216.2] [image:11.564.351.497.244.352.2]

[image:12.564.281.551.43.452.2]

Figure 25. Ad Reinhardt,"Abstract Painting,"

1963.

exceed $10billion each

year."

Meanwhile,

artsorga

nization and galleries are _{shutting down in droves}

across thecountry.

We live in a world that _{clearly holds digital}

entertainment in much higher esteem than art. With

thisinmind, I've continuedtoexplore theconceptual

boundaries ofdigital technologies _{in my} work inthe

hope of

inviting

_my audience to meditate on these

issues through both humor and

beauty,

rather than

political_pedantry alone.

Excited

by

the reductionist qualities of

Pong,

andtoo _{greatly discouraged}

by

theweathertocontin

ue_{photographing}outside,I started_usingthecomput

ertoconvert art

history

intoa series of symbolicdraw

ingsthatremakethe

history

of art as stickfigures. The

sourceforallofthisworkis Gardner'sfamousarthis

tory

survey textbookArt Through theAges (fig. 26).

The first drawings I made for this project were the

Stick FigureMasterpieces. InthesepiecesIreduced

seventh edition

Art

through the

Ages

Figure 16. Gardner's "Art Throughthe Ages."

Figure 27.DeborahRieders, "Stick Figure Masterpieces,"

1994.

Figure28.Deborah Rieders, "Stick FigureMasterpieces,"

1994.

the canonicalpaintings and sculpturesofWesternArt

to their most recognizable forms and coupled them

with_contemporaryslang, asahumorouscomment on

literacy

(fig.

27,

28). Withthefloodofimagescurrent

ly

inourlives_{it's easy}to"mistake knowledgeandthe

image fieldusedin managing

it,

for

information"

and

viceversa.22_{Thesedrawings}

counteracttheoverabun

danceofimages inourlives

by imposing

a minimahst

framework over images laden withhistorical signifi

cance.

Forthenext reviewI also made alittle detour

into the realm of popular _{culture, making} popular

icons intostickfigures. I quicklygave_upthisideaasI

decidedthatIam moreinterested inpicturesaboutpic

tures that the

furthering

and _revealing of cultural

stereotypes.

Whenitcametime to_{begin my thesis, I decid}

edtogive_up the textual accompaniment,asitalways

seemed alittle

forced,

but Ireturnedtoan exploration

of art

history,

as it seemed more laden with multiple

readings thanpopularculture

by

itself. Atthis pointI

startedto see if I could create symbols based on the

history

of artthat also referenced _contemporary cul

tureall-in-one, muchinthe _waythata corporatelogo

[image:12.564.77.221.44.202.2]

figure and symbolic form are the visual language of

thenon-artist and artist alike.

They

are alsothe toolsof

children, universal _signage, and "primitive" cultures.

By

reducingthe

history

of artto_abstraction,I hopedto

show the ways in which "high-art," mirrors and

informspopular culture.In _{the end,}all oftheart gen

resI'vechosentosymbolize

(battles,

_{sex, architecture,}

landscape,

and still

life)

reference _abstractly the vio

lence,

sex, environment,and economicissues featured

everynight ontelevision.

Withthe

help

ofRolandBarthes' methodolo

gy for

"reading"

photographs, as outlined in Camera

Lucida,

I startedtoremakethe

history

ofartintosym

bols based on its appearance as photographic repro

ductions in books. In Camera

Lucida,

Barthes deduces

a dualistic formula for reading pictures that includes

the "studium" and the "punctum." Studium refers

specificallyto thepleasure we elicitfroma photograph

based our_abilitytoplaceit within a

historical,

politi

cal or philosophical

framework;

what he calls "an

average effect

[derived]

froma certain_{training, includ}

ing

a kind of _general, enthusiastic commitment."23

Punctum,

on the other

hand,

refers to the irrational

bliss one feels when

looking

at a photograph that

stems _{from its relationship} to the viewer's personal

background. "Punctum isacastofthedice...thatacci

dentwhichpricksme(butalsobruisesme,ispoignant

tome)."24_This

philosophical systemallowsBarthesto

explain _why two viewers respond

differently

to the

same photograph

by

_expanding the criteria

by

which

wejudge imagestoincludetherandomness of private

experience.

By

_choosing to execute _{my drawings}

according to this model of

interpretation,

I hope to

reflect, oftenwhimsically,upon thecontingentnature

ofsymbolsin_contemporarylife.

As our _society commits to adigital model of

the world,Iwantto analyzethe

history

ofrepresenta

tion _according to these new conventions. Just like

postmodern artists such as Barbara Kruger and

Richard Princehaveemployedthevisual strategies of

mass media(bold graphics andbillboard

imagery)

in

order to deconstruct

it,

I thought it was important to

exploit the conceptual potential of the computer in

order to make _my work (fig.

29,

30). The computer

possesses characteristics absentfrommoretraditional

Figure 29. Barbara Kruger, "Untitled,"

[image:13.564.287.545.241.401.2]

1988.

Figure 30. Richard Prince, "Untitled,"

1980-84.

drawing

tools,anditwastheseattributesthatledmeto

implement it intheproduction ofthiswork.

Thecomputerinterface itselfprovidestheper

fect model for this pursuit, as it relies _solely on its

iconstocommunicatewiththeuserandinturn"gives

a renewed prominence to the

long

discredited art of

writing with pictures."25 _Both

the Macintosh system

softwareandWindows "speak"to theirusers through

cutesy

desktop

icons (fig. 31). In order to become

computer

literate,

we must learnthe_meaningofthese

iconsand incorporate themintoour visual vocabular

ies. In my drawings I'm creatingsymbolsthatfunction

as mnemonic devices for the

learning

of art

history

____.

IIP

Interface.

Classical rhetoric

often employed the

model of a visual gar

den inwhichdifferent

ideas are storedin the

brain _according to

their _relationship to

pictorial images

stored in thebrain. In

keeping

with_my thesis thatsymbolsfunction

discursively,

ratherthanlogical

ly,

however,

I don't want these symbols to function exactly incorrelationwiththeirreferent.

UnlikethetrashcanontheMacintosh

desktop,

I want _my symbols to provoke questions rather than tell the audience whatto do.

Using

thefloorplans of thegreatcathedrals as a point of

departure,

forexam

ple, I've tried to make connections between

history

and_{contemporary life. With}abitof artistic embellish

ment, for example, the

Salisbury

Cathedral starts to takeon characteristics of a_gun,whileChartresnostal

gicallyreferstoa more naive version of50's America

completewith anice creamsodafortwo(fig.

32,

33). In Untitled

(Landscapes),

thefirst known land

scape, a wall

drawing

from Catal

Hyuk,

looks more

likea_{contemporary Nam June Paik}wall ofTVmoni

tors than a _volcano, while a _normally tranquil

Southwest landscapealludesto thereligious mytholo

gyoftheunderworld. In Untitled (Battle

Scenes),

the

hangedman ofGoya's Tampocobecomesa woman

Figure 32. Deborah Rieders,"Untitled," 1995.

A

[image:14.564.276.545.45.702.2]

SD sn snsn

Figure 34, Deborah

Rieders,"Untitled,"

1995. Figure 33. DeborahRieders,

"Untitled,"

1995.

clutching herpocketbook,whiletheArgonautsresem

ble Batman (fig. 34-37). In all of_{these symbols,} and

many more, I'm asking the audienceto complete the

meaning based on their

own culturalandperson al _experiences, rather

than_acceptingthestatus

quo as advanced

by

the

technocracy,as wouldbe

the case with Windows

95,

for example. As

Figure 35. Deborah Rieders,

David Bolter _says, "the "Untitled,"

1995.

computer vacillates between intuitive and

highly

abstract

modes,"

and in turn imbues its icons with

hermeneuticqualities.26

The computer also lends itselfwell to quota

tion,andin turn,seemswellsuitedto theact of"mak

ing

art about

art."

[image:14.564.61.226.573.654.2]

First,

itallowsmetocreate seamless

Figure 36. Deborah Rieders

"Untitled,"

1995.

Figure 37.Deborah Rieders,

line drawings

by

_eliminating erasure marks with its

handy

undo commands. In Picture

Theory,

WJT

Mitchellspeaks aboutthevisualqualitiesof

"metapic-tures,"

and their _ability to encourage _dialogue

"between interpretations of said picture."27 _He

cites,

for example, the simple duck-rabbit line

drawing

madefamous

by

Wittgensteinthatthrowsthenotion of

visual _{objectivity into} question. In this

drawing

you

may be

looking

at aduckor you _{may be}

looking

at a

rabbit. Regardless of what you _see, pictures such as

these"revealthepresence of a mind'seye,

interpreting

pictures,seeing differentaspects ofthem."28Thename

of_mythesis show,Mental

Pictures,

refersto a model

of perceptioninwhichthebrainand eyetogethermust

complete meaning.

In Untitled (Still

Lives),

I've reduced a staple

ofthestilllifegenre, dead fowlanddeadrabbits,to a

symbolthat

humorously

alludesto theduck/rabbitpar

adigm,

by

literally,

turning

it on it's head (fig. 38).

These black and white drawings also emulate

Rorschachtestsandinturnengagetheviewerinadia

logueabout cultural stereotypes and expectations.

In Untitled (Sex

Positions),

for example, I've

attempted a reinterpretation oftheRoman Fresco from

"VillaoftheMysteries"(fig. 39). In my

drawing

Icon

vertedthe

dancing

Roman figure

depicting

therites of

thepre-Christian_mysterycultsinto a

dominatrix,

or a

powerful female figure. In myopinion, thisenigmatic

fresco always warranted more attention than Gardner

afforded it in Art Through the

Ages,

by

_representing

one ofthe

first,

and_onlyexamples of sado-masochism

in the

history

of art.

By

_rendering this

drawing

in a

rudimentarystyle, I hope to

ironically

opentheinter

pretation to include at least any and all of the above

interpretations.

Figure38.Deborah _Rieders, "Untitled,"

1995.

Figure 39. Deborah_Rieders,

"Untitled,"

1995.

The memory capability of the computer also

encourages the _copying and _storing of libraries of

imagery

forour ownindividualneeds. Ourparticipa

tionin the act ofimagemanipulation destabilizes the

notion of _authorship, and in turn threatens the _very

foundation of capitalist _society

by

_{circumventing} a

fundamentaleconomic_precept;copyrightlaw.

Ideally,

but _{unlikely, this}couldlead to thedemocratizationof

art

by

_puttingvisualpowerintothehandsof everyone

with a computer.Fora nominalfeethese

days,

anyone

can

buy

bitmappedor simple vector-graphic _clipart at

theirlocalcomputer store andincorporate it into

then-own work(fig. 40). I want_my workto reference this

store-bought, canned _art, and for this reason also, I

chose to render _my work as black & white vector

drawings;

the_{least memory intensive} andleastexpen

sive graphic _{form currently} available.

By

translating

"famous"

works of art into these simple graphics I

suggestthatcanonical wisdom "never comesintothe

world_purelytransparentanddisembodied,"butrather

through themediation of economic and cultural expe

diencies.29_{This workcomments somewhat}

cynically

on afuture in whichtheconstruction of_meaning will

be

largely

dependent upon those with access to the

greatest amount of artificial memory; most

likely

the [image:15.564.281.550.44.189.2]

4*i

With

therecent

acceptance of digital

media

by

thecommer

cial _world,thesedraw

ingsalsotranslate

easi-Figure 40. Incidentals_(Dingbats)

Adobe Fonts.

ly

to other media. I

agree that symbols are

"bestshownin

display

mode."30

I quickly discovered

while_makingthisworkthatalmost_everytypeof com

mercial fabricator would_gladlytransfer_{my drawings}

to_anypossible objectIcouldimagine. I

finally

decid

ed onthreeformats in whichto

display

thisworkthat

best accommodated both my ideas and _my

budget;

signs, miniatures,and photographs.Thesethreeforms

move _{my icons from} the public to the private _realm,

withthehopeof_engagingtheaudience on a multitude

of experiential levels.

Withthe regulationstreet_signs, I reflect upon

whatI see as a_growingtrendinour culturetowardsa

generalperceptionthatlife imitatesart,ratherthan the

Aristotelian reversal.

According

to a _very recent NY

Times survey, 55% of adults in this _country attribute

teenage violence to portrayals of violence in movies

and music. This figure demonstrates the enormous

power Americans ascribe to art. It also confirms

Baudrillard'spredictions whenhe saysthatwelive in

a world in which simulation has destroyed the "dis

tinctionbetweentrueand

false,

real and

imaginary."

OverthelasttwoyearsI'vespent an enormous

amount oftimeonthe

highway

driving

backandforth

inordertolookat art and workin NYC. Boredout of

my mind on thesedrives down Rt.

17,

1 realizedthat

mostAmericans spend a lot more time_reading street

signsthan

looking

at art.

By

_makingmy symbolsinto

signs and_placing them aroundthe campus and park

ing

lots of

RTT,

I hope to encourage a microcosm of

our_culture, theacademic_communityto, in thewords

of Bruce

Nauman,"Pay

Attention! to art."31

While

their context

by

no means guarantees a captivated

audience, the institutional space of the RTT campus

encourages mental digression at _every turn. Whether

driving

up the

long

driveway,

or _{walking from} the

huge parking lotto the

buildings,

thesignsfunction as

a

humorous,

ifnot educational break fromthe _empty

horizon and architectural _monotony now _occupying

this former swampland.

They

also seem a logical

extension of_mypreviouslandscapework

by

_allowing

meto_{further my}satirical exploration ofthelandscape.

While in myprevious workItried todraw visualpar

allels between

history

and the _{contemporary land}

scape, this work even more _graphically makes these

visual connectionsthrough the actual alteration ofthe

landscapeitself.

At the entrance to River

Rd.,

near the Red

Bam,

sits a symbol _representing a Dutch landscape

(fig. 41). Theplacement ofthis sign calls ontheaudi

encetonotice thesimilaritiesbetween Holland in the

16th _century, and Rochester today. In spite of vast

technological changes in the _world, we still continue

toromanticize our agricultural origins.Forthis reason,

theRed Bam has remained oncampusin spite ofthe

factthatitexists as an_{emptysignifier,}bereftofits fer

tile

land,

farmanimals andfieldworkers.Nowitpro

videsthe

Outing

Clubwith a simulatedenvironmentin

which students practice _{rock-climbing} on wooden

walls.

Atthe

top

ofV-Lot isa symbol forthe

kitschy

sunrise/sunsetimagesmadefamous

by

photographers

such as Joel Meyerowitz (fig. 42). Sandwiched

over-Figure 41. DeborahRieders,model_drawing for "Untitled(Sign),"

1995.

looking

the

horizon,

it

ironically

suggeststheabsurdi

ty

of

teaching

landscape photography in aninstitution

when the real world lies right outside its doors.

Paradoxically,

I would also like to

believe, however,

that the geometric qualities of the symbol itself sug

gest _{something ineffable beyond} a mere institutional

critique.As

kitschy

as

they

_{may have}

become,

sunris

es and sunsets still_signify thecycles of_nature,andif

hard-pressed,

most of us stillbelievein theirredeem

ing

qualities.

These signs also attempt to bridge the _gap

betweentheartsandsciences at a school well-reputed

for

both,

butoften _experiencingdepartmental conflict

fromwithin. The signlocatedin E-Lotrepresents the

swordbladespaintedin Uccello's famous_paintingThe

Battle at San Romano (fig. 43). This painting repre

sents atransitional time inthe

history

ofartas artists

were

beginning

to perfect the science of perspective

drawing

that has since come to represent the

Renaissance.

By

_placing this signin thecenter ofthe

parking

lot,

I hopeto locate RTT ata similarjuncture

between the _study of art and science.

Immediately

upon_my arrival at RTT Inoticedagooddeal often

sionbetweentheschools of art and sciences.Withthis

signIwouldliketo suggesta moreharmoniousunion

Figure42. Deborah Rieders,model_drawing for"Untitled(Sign),"

1995.

ofthetwoschoolsinthe

future,

especially inan ageso

dependent upon the meaningful and creative imple

mentation oftechnology.

Thesesignsalso situatethe_universitycampus

amongst some well-known _mythologies, in order to

elucidateits function in contemporary society.At the

exit ofLomb Memorial

Drive,

for

instance,

I'veplaced

a sign that depicts the Expulsionfrom the _{Garden of}

Eden,

made famous

by

Massacio (fig. 44).

Visually,

thissign referencesthe"peoplecrossing"

signswe see

everywhere.

By

_placing this sign at the exit to the

school I'm

literally

_{asking drivers} to watch out for

nakedpeople

hiding

theirgenitals and_exitingthecam

pus. This sign _{metaphorically} posits the campus as

Edeninrelationto thereal world. Itexemplifieshow

culture often idealizes college as our last bastion of

freedom before entering thereal world as an adult. It

also points to the general perception thatuniversities

tolerate naive intellectual pursuits untainted

by

the

competitionofthebusinessworld.

I'vealsoincorporateda number ofvisualpuns

intothese signs inorder to indexthepersonal experi

ences we

bring

to bear on the signs around us.

"Through

[visual]

punning, the symbol bears the

weight of a thousand words on all sides ofits

[image:17.564.286.493.45.217.2] [image:17.564.64.214.49.219.2]

Figure43.DeborahRieders,model_drawing

for "Untitled(Sign),"

1995.

Figure44. Deborah Rieders,model_drawing

for"Untitled(Sign),"

1995.

ry_its

creation, itsreading, and at_every scene of mis

apprehension."32_Placed

nextto the_stop sign,in front

ofG-Lot I'veplaced a symbol derived fromBirkerts'

famous Federal Reserve Bank (fig. 45). The average

person

looking

at this sign will _probably notice its

resemblanceto a_guillotine, nottheallusiontoabank.

While the reference _{may be vague,} I think thatjust

about_every student (andprofessor), canrelate to the

feelings ofdistress that _accompanythe financial bur

dens of _university life. Ever since the French

Revolution,

theguillotinehassignifiedthedestruction

(beheading)

of authoritarian rule. With theplacement

of this sign in the center of_campus, I'm

hoping

to

equate this revolution to the student discontent that

accompanies _rising educational costs and

declining

educational quality.

In the _{gallery I've} placed eight large pho

tographs that

display

all of _my symbols in groups

according to theirspecific artistic genre (fig.

46,

47).

In my opinion, these symbols always seemed an

extension of_photographyinthat

they

are

"profoundly

ideological,

for

they

eternalize a moment orinstance

ofthetypicalinthesame_waythata

[photograph]

_cap

tions amoment."33 _Like

photography,

they

selectively

frame the elements that I think are important in the

Figure45. Deborah_Rieders, model

drawing

for "Untitled(Sign),"

1995.

reproductions of art _{appearing in Gardner's "Art}

through the Ages." The difference

being

that

they

functionas"2ndorderdiscourse" thatreflects on"1st

order discourse," in other _{words, pictures about pic}

tures, rather than pictures about the real world.

By

placingthesesymbolsin

dizzying

lines I hopetocom ment upon the

self-referentiality

and _circularity that

often results in

trying

to reduce pictures to language.

The resulting "whirlpool"

of symbols in these pho

tographs "suggests a_wayof_{specifying (or picturing)}

the _{multistability} effect in a graphic

form,

_{what we}

might calltheVortex

Effect",

or whatIwould call ver [image:18.564.287.539.49.664.2]

At the same_time,

they

attemptto aestheticize

photo-mechanical reproduction

by

drawing

the audi

ence inthrough the ethereal qualities oftheirweight

less lines.

By

_{using extremely high} resolution nega

tives

(3600dpi)

made

directly

from the computer in

order to achieve this almost translucent line quality,

this work capitalizes on "certain physiological

processes in the eye andbrainwhich we are not nor

mally aware of _{in ordinary}

vision."

To quote Cyril

Barret,

the main defender of Optical Art in the 50 's

and

60's,

"what at first confronts us is a stable and

often monotonous repetition oflines...but as we con

tinue tolook it beginstodissolve before our eyes...the

lines undulate and patterns which were not there

before suddenlymaketheirappearance and as_quickly

disappear."35 _Unlike

Op

Art, however,

the subject of

my work encompasses

history

as well asform. This

lends the work a thematic weight often subsumed in

Optical Art

by

itstechnical_{wizardry (fig. 48).}

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Figure47 DeborahRieders,"Untitled (BattleScenes),"

1995.

Thecomputer's_abilitytofacilitate cutting and

pasting also playsinto thedecorative qualities ofthis

work.Like Warhol's Cow

Wallpaper,

I'm interested in

subverting this tradition. On one level these pho

tographsgive us a succinct and _easyto digestversion

of art

history

as ornamentation, asGautier saysinref

erence toWilliam Morris' wallpaper "auseful _ency

clopediato_study while_{waiting for}thesoup."36_Upon

closer

inspection, however,

some of their content

reveals the perversions of sensationalist pop-culture,

namelysex and_violence,"too prettytobe art,andtoo

outrageousfordecoration."37

This consideration of Victorian wallpaper

moves us

finally

to an analysis of the etched Lucite

miniatures. In 19th century

England,

the_wealthywere

fond of

displaying

nature samples under glass. In

manyofthese symbols,Ireduce art

history

tosymbols

thatemulate theinsect and nature specimens so trea

sured

by

theVictorians. The book and hourglass still

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Figure46. Deborah _Rieders,"Untitled(Architectural Sites),"

[image:20.564.93.202.38.196.2]

Figure 48. VictorVasarely,

"Vega,"

1956.

life,

for

instance,

becomes a _spider, while the

Canterbury

cathedral resembles abeetle (fig.

49,

50).

By

metamorphosing the art canon into the shape of

specimens, Tm suggesting thatwe subject the canon

toa more rigorous examination.Atthesametime I'm

once again

implying

that thereal world oftenimitates

art, and for this reason, we should not undervalue its

importance. Ireflect uponthe transformational power

of art

by

_privilegingeach ofthese symbols on a shelf

ofitsown,illuminatedfromwithin

by

alight box.

The Victorians also considered glass to be a

purifying substance that maintains the boundaries

betweenthegrotesque andthedecorativewhile"max

imizing

thepossibilities oftranscendentvision."38

By

employing

Lucite,

afauxglass,I'm

ironically

alluding

to the

fallacy,

or simulation oftruth in symbolic lan

guage. Miniatures have been regarded

historically

as

emblems of_{the self, their} small scale _acting as per

sonaltalismans forprivatecontemplation.

Contrary

to

what one might think, this "reduction in dimension

doesnot produce acorrespondingreductioninsignif

icance;

indeed,

the gem-like properties ofthe minia

turemaketheseforms_especiallysuitable containers of

aphoristic and didactic thought."39 Their small scale,

furthermore,

transfers the construction of_meaningto

theexperiential realm ofthe individual. Inthewalnut

Figure49. DeborahRieders,model drawingfor "Untitled (Vanitas),"

1995

Figure 50. Deborah_Rieders,model

drawingfor"Untitled(Pilgrimage)," 1995.

still

life,

forexample, the symbol resembles ahuman

brain (fig. 51).Thissymbolimplicatestheindividual's

intellect intheconstruction of artistic meaning.

The etchings themselves were _{paradoxically}

created

by

a computerized router that lends them a

hand-made appearance, as evincedinthe _varyingand

imperfect linestyle.

They

reflect uponthe tenuoussta

tus of_{originality in} a digitized_world,

by

_embodying

the"tensionbetweentheuniqueness ofthe

pre-indus-trialworld and therepetition of mass

production." In

the _{revolutionary} war _{ship etching,} for

instance,

the

symbol itself suggests our nostalgic

longing

for

Colonial America (fig. 52). Its stylistic execution as a

"hand-made"

collectible, meanwhile, suggests the

rapid commodification of historical objects in our

increasingly

ephemeral world of digital information. [image:20.564.290.488.41.387.2]

Figure51. Deborah Rieders,modeldrav

ingfor "Untitled(Nuts),"

1995.

Figure 52. DeborahRieders,model drawingfor "Untitled(Vessel),"

1995.

The resemblance of these objects to trophies further

signifies the collection ofknowledge one both inter

nalizes and externalizes.

By

_choosing to depicterotic

poses from the

history

of art on the _majority ofthese

pieces, I hope to

humorously

contrast our mental

storehouses of privateknowledge withthe more pub

lic

display

ofart collectionsin bothmuseumsand cor

porate collections(fig.

53,

54). Thisalsotranslatesinto

the

blurring

oflines between our public and private

livesthat accompaniestheencroachment oftechnolo

gy-While I've given some interpretations for this

work,Iwouldliketoconclude

by

_sayingthat theseare

by

no meansthe_onlyinterpretationsofthesesymbols.

Many

peoplehave seenthingsin thesesymbols thatI

never realized werethere myself,andtheseinterpreta

tionsarejustasvalid,and much

funnier,

than_{any I had} [image:21.564.78.243.44.350.2]

originally intended. The continued interpretation of

Figure 53. Deborah Rieders,model drawingfor "Untitled (Kiss),"

1995.

Figure 54. DeborahRieders,model drawingfor "Untitled (OralHistory),"

1995.

these symbols in thepublic and private spheres reju

venates the work and furthers the critical analysis of

imagery

that I see as an

increasingly

important func

tionof_contemporary society.

The

[image:21.564.283.491.44.372.2]

ENDNOTES

1

Jay

David_Bolter,The Elementsof_Writing,Writing Space: The Computer. Hypertext, andthe HistoryofWriting. (New Jersey:Lawrence Erlbaum_{Assoc), 1991,}p.46.

2Richard

Lanham, Digital RhetoricandtheDigital Arts. The Electronic Word. (Chicago:

University

ofChicagoPress), 1993, p.

45.

3Roberta

Bernstein, Warholas _Printmaker,Andy Warhol Prints. (New York: Ronald Feldman), 1984, p.15.

4Robert

Pincus-Witten, Mondrian Meets Dagwood: The Drawingsof

Roy

_{Lichtenstein,}

Roy

Lichtenstein:A Drawing Retrospective. (New York: James Goodman

Gallery),

_1969, 1.

5Reinhardt,

Ad. LA

County

Museum Retrospectivecatalog.

6Franz

Kaiser,

Drawing

asNotation-or JustDrawing,Sol Lewitt Drawings 1958-1992. (Netherlands: Haags

Gemeentemuseum), 1992, intro.

7Trevor

Fairbrother, Sol LeWitt Drawingsandtheart of"logicalstatements"

Sol Lewitt Drawings1958-1992. (Netherlands: HaagsGemeentemuseum), 1992,intro.

8Fairbrother,

intro.

9Gary

Garrels,

Photography

in

Contemporary

German Art: 1960to thePresent. (Minneapolis: Walker ArtCenter), 1992,15.

10Calvin

Tompkins,

Drawing

andPainting.JenniferBartlett. (Minneapolis: Walker Art_{Center), 1989,} 17.

11

Lucy

Lippard, Eva Hesse. (New York: New York

Iniversity

Press), 1976,32.

12Peter

Halley,The Crisis inGeometry. (New York:Sonnabend), 1987,95.

13Peter

Halley,DeploymentoftheGeometric. (New York:_{Sonnabend), 1987,} .

14Jean

Baudrillard, The PrecessionofSimulacra,Art After Modernism:

Rethinking

RepresentationiNewYork: The New Museum of

Contemporary

_Art), 1984,254.

15Kasper

Konig, Works 1972-1992, Matt Mullican, (Dusseldorf: Centre National_{D'Art), 1992,} 92.

16Bolter,

50.

17Brenda

Richardson, BruceNauman:Neons, (The BaltimoreMuseumofArt)1983, 24.

18Richardson,

35.

19Russell

Ferguson, The PastRecaptured, Traveling-FelixGonzalez-Torres. (LosAngeles: _{MOCA), 1994,}26.

20Halley,

The Crisis in Geometry,86.

21

Lucy

Lippard, Overlay: Contemporary ArtandtheArtofPrehistory. (New York: Pantheon), 1983, 96.

220ng,

Knowledgeandthe FutureofMan. (Holt & Rinehart), 1968.

23Roland

Barthes,Camera Lucida. (NewYork:Hill &Wang), 1981, 26.

24Barthes,

27.

25Bolter,

46.

26Bolter,

50.

27WJT

Mitchell, PictureTheory. (Chicago:The

University

ofChicago _{Press), 1994,} 38.

28Mitchell,

51.

29Lanham,

37.

30Stewart,

53. 31

Richardson,24.

32Stewart,

50.

33Stewart,

49.

34Mitchell,

75.

35Cyril

Barrett,An Introductionto OpticalArt. (New York:Dutton &_Co.), 1971, 11.

36Marilyn

OliverHapgood,WallpaperandtheArtist. (NewYork:AbbevillePress), 1992, 33.

37Roberta

Bernstein, WarholasPrintmaker,

Andy

Warhol Prints. (New York: Ronald Feldman), 1984, 17.

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