Gallery 307. Art and Language
As French thinker Jacques Lacan stated, language both constructs and constrains us. By resorting to language—as a complex system of rules and meanings that shape the way we think and interact—the artists in this gallery invite us to question reality, reconstruct memory, and become aware of the cultural structures that determine who we are.
The words and signs that fill Jean-Michel Basquiat’s canvas are a harsh critique of his exploitation by his dealer; the work thus becomes a symbol of resistance and self-affirmation against commodification. Ibon Aranberri reinterprets the anagrams and logos designed by Eduardo Chillida for cultural and political institutions in the Basque Country; cultural symbols rooted in collective memory whose original meaning has become diluted over time as they have taken on new ones.
Both Nancy Dwyer and Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa critically examine language and mass culture with wit and irony. Dwyer turns words into threedimensional sculptures whose shapes and bold colors contrast with their meaning, highlighting the mechanisms behind the manipulation of public discourse. Likewise, the slogans on Pérez Agirregoikoa’s banners reflect collective urges, concerns, and complaints and evince the tension between individual desire and external control. His words reveal social impositions, call into question the notion of obedience, and suggest a potential cultural revolution. The copper plates of Erlea Maneros Zabala reproduce the covers of the underground magazine Sine Nomine, in which each letter and sign attest to the cultural and social struggle of the Basque people during the Franco regime by addressing language as form, content, and historical document. Finally, through her complex structures of numbers, letters, and symbols, Hanne Darboven creates new ways of measuring and recording time which go beyond chronological conventions.