Language as "visual" art?

Paintings, photography, sculpture -- these are what most people think of when they think of art. And if asked to consider how words might be used as art, they think of novels, poems, maybe even clever advertisements. But simple, virtually unformatted phrases or sentences? Language, words, specifically printed words as art? I had trouble grasping what this artist might be after, but a quote from the article,"Though Mr. Weiner considers himself a sculptor, he says that imposing his specific personal vision for a work upon a viewer is akin to 'aesthetic fascism.' " opened my eyes to a deeper meaning behind this unorthodox display. I think the artist, Lawrence Weiner, has hit on something more than just "new and different" as so many artistic breakthroughs are: it actually makes sense.

Normally I tend to dismiss bizarre new art forms as positively ridiculous, but this one smacks of something a bit deeper. The medium of words. There's so much potential! Far more than a spoon-fed image, words create an abstract concept, picture, or idea in somebody's mind far more beautiful and elaborate, more multi-faceted and complex than anything static and of substance in the physical world. Words give rise to different thoughts from person to person, and even different thoughts in the same person, depending on his mood when viewing this unorthodox "art." Instead of imposing his own mandates on his viewers, Lawrence Weiner is truly leaving the beauty of his work to the mental faculties of his viewers, or more accurately, thinkers.

Because we use language every day, almost every second in our thoughts, Weiner's work is something that becomes constant in life. As he puts it, "If it's successful, the work really becomes part of people's lives," because the effort one puts into appreciating Weiner's work is a series of thoughts based on words, and if those very words are brought up in the course of daily thought or communication, it's a direct link to that former process.


One extra strange, slightly perplexing link you probably didn't see. I wonder about the scientific evidence behind perceiving this naked-woman silhouette's spin direction and left and right brainedness:

Spinning Naked Woman Silhouette.

This one's rather interesting; a novel approach to foreign language learning. It seems like a fatal flaw, however, is that adults can't learn language as easily or in the same way as young children, whom they constantly reference.