Art and Text as the name might suggest, takes an in-depth look at the use of text in art and examines the way in which text has introduced a
new mode of thought to artistic practices. When language is used in art, the letter, the word or the phrase are seen and experienced, and not necessarily read. The language is freed from the page as well as from its received meanings, received forms, and, in some cases, the duties of communication altogether.
During the 1960s, it became common practice for modernist critics to attribute a meaning or explanation to a piece of work, but with text now playing such a prominent role, the justification for the artwork’s existence seemed to already be there, written clearly in front of the viewer. In actual fact, many artists such as dadaist René Magritte used it as an anti-art or an «anti-aesthetic sentiment», rejecting conventional artistic standards or even questioning whether or not «Art» actually exists. The expansive Art & Language group of artists and theorists, including some of the world’s most respected artists Joseph Kosuth, also reconsidered the possibilities of ‘linguistic art’ and helped push the boundaries of what constitutes art at the time.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, who began as a graffiti artist, used text as a «socio-political artistic mechanism».
Cy Twombly investigated the process of drawing and its relationship with writing and language. His work often incorporates textual references to Greek and Roman mythology and engaged the techniques of Surrealist-inspired automatic writing, through which Twombly studies the physical act of mark making.
Towards the end of the decade contemporary artists like Lawrence Weiner, Bruce Nauman and John Baldessari began to use written language as an artwork in itself. Baldessari even began to remove his own hand from the construction of the text, and employed a sign painter to write ironic statements in a lifeless black font that would impact the viewer without distractions. Today artists are still developing and expanding this prominent artistic medium’s possibilities; Tracy Emin and Jenny Holzer uses text as a means of directly confronting the viewer and provoking an immediate response.
Each x Other is a collaborative clothing brand – a fusion of artists, poets, musicians, designers and artisans coming together in a creative community where their clothing is presented as a blank canvas.Each X Other aims to bring contemporary art, poetry and design to a wider audience, creating fashion collections, works of art and design publishing, designed as iconic pieces. The collection Each X Other will be presented in an exclusive Pop Up store at Eden Rock – St Barths every night from 6pm to 10pm during the year-end season.