Flashcard Series 1989
This group of work utilizes the flashcard (a classroom aide used to teach reading skills) as a vehicle for examining the interpretation of words and pictures. Each piece is made up of an iconic shaped photogram and a text panel positioned within a frame.
The shape represents the object/word which illustrates the letter or phonetic sound presented by that flashcard. This picture/shape is a dense network of signs, symbols and imagery within a simple form undermining the implied logic of the word system by evoking endless possible readings based on the viewer’s experience and associations.
The text panel is the reserve side of the same flashcard and lists additional words which utilize the same letter or sound. Read in the context of shifting meaning inherent in the picture/shape, the list of words operates on levels other than its intended logical purpose and stimulates additional imagery and possible narratives.
The frame acts as a formal device which reiterates the rectangle format of the flashcard itself while linking the picture/shape with the text and eliminating distinctions between the front of the card and the back. The frame also places the objects into visual art context and out of their original educational setting. In this examination of reading as a basic shared system of communication the interrelation between picture and word, private and public, individual and culture, thought and message is exposed. The dichotomy between what is learned and what is experiential brings the viewer into the shifting realm where conventional meaning breaks down and awareness of individual meaning is stimulated.
