January 17th, 2012
Lawrence Weiner: A Selection from the Vancouver Art Gallery Archive of Lawrence Weiner Posters
by Fanny
We are surrounded in our everyday lives by words and images. These two things are often put together, but how often do we actually stop and consider the relationship between the two?
The current exhibit at the SFU Art Gallery explores this concept through a selection of Lawrence Weiner posters collected from various shows and installations throughout the span of his almost five-decade career that began in the late 1960’s, and is still going. Upon entering the exhibit, there was a sense of minimalism as the posters sparsely covered two of the walls, while the third wall was covered by what initially appeared to be fragmented lines of Weiner’s words, which included the definitive statement: “Posters are in fact the writings on the wall”.
Lawrence Weiner was one of the first artists to combine typography in his artwork. His career started during the movement of conceptual art, and this factor is reflected in his the change in direction from traditional formats to more abstract concepts and canvases. Weiner believed strongly in drawing people from his work back to worldly objects through their own interpretation. What is often lost is the realization that art can be present in many different forms, and Weiner successfully engages us to open up commentary of his work by reading the lines and in between. If the presentation of the posters is any indication, Weiner succeeds in this goal.
The simplicity of Weiner’s work is visually engaging. Whether in the placement of text, the bareness of the background, or the usage of brackets or other lines, the qualities that these posters hold explore the concepts of design as we know it today. Typography certainly seems to hold a large influence in the designs seen in the confines of the posters, and Weiner seems to have been ahead of the times in this aspect. The notion and usage of space is also a recurring quality in the exhibit, something that comes into play with Weiner’s larger public installations.
Whether or not (and especially if you are) keen on typography, the Lawrence Weiner exhibit is definitely worth a visit. Running now until February 18th, you can find more information on the exhibit on the SFU Art Gallery website and information on other upcoming art exhibits on Tourism Burnaby’s events calendar.
Image Credit:
PARADIGMS SUITABLE FOR DAILY USE, 1986, offset lithograph on paper, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Gift of Moved Pictures Archive.
Source: SFU Art Gallery
