"[RE]COLLECT"

The six works in “Open and Shut,” curated by Maxwell Graham, present text as art. The viewer is not only required to consider the works as aesthetic objects, but engage with them; they must be read. This challenges the traditional divide between writer and artist and raises the question of whether art can be appreciated by everyone or, in this case, only those who can read.

There are many ways to “read” Alejandro Cesarco’s Index (a Novel). The viewer gets to imagine a narrative that does not exist and therefore becomes an author. Allen Ruppersberg’s Fishing is Fun is presented in the form of a jigsaw puzzle with an image of his studio wall on one side and text describing his influences on the other. One side (the side facing down) is necessarily subordinated after one has fished through the pieces to put it together. Mai-Thu Perret’s Letter Home (after A.R.) contains affectionate language from one anonymous lover to another. The “A.R.” in the title stands for Alexander Rodchenko, but this is not revealed, thereby allowing innocent identification with the sentiment and locating a common denominator through human emotion. Linking art and life: A.R. would be proud. “Open and Shut” strategically challenges the polarity between the visual and the textual by fusing image and word. Hardly an open-and-shut case, it engages different interpretations and eschews traditional notions of text in art.—Lara Bullock