Erwin Wurm GROSSE BUCHSTABEN, GRELLE FARBEN. Schrift als Kunst - Kunst als Schrift

Letters, words, sentences: in contemporary painting, they do not merely convey literal meaning, but can become visual motifs in their own right. The Kunsthalle Emden is dedicating a new exhibition to this area of tension: GROSSE BUCHSTABEN, GRELLE FARBEN brings together works by contemporary artists as well as pieces by graffiti artists, and explores how writing functions within an image: what does it add to the work, and how is it treated creatively? Can text convey something to us that cannot be captured by words alone?

Text in the visual image has been a theme in art history since at least the classical modernist period. The Dada movement provided groundbreaking impetus in this regard; in later movements such as Neo-Expressionism and the Neue Wilde – both key areas of focus in the Kunsthalle Emden’s collection – text also became a fundamental component of the image. In the works on display, it appears in a variety of forms: as a quotation, as a complementary element or as the actual central motif. The artistic design always stands in a productive tension with the literal, linguistic or symbolic content. The treatment and alienation of text become an artistic choice.

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