RACINE, WI.- Open January 21 - May 6, 2018 at the Racine Art Museum, Text Message: Words and Letters in Contemporary Art includes works that use language and script to convey meaning. Contemporary artists, recognizing the power and complexity of the written word, utilize text—individual letters or words—to explore theoretical, social, symbolic, and aesthetic concerns.

While the title of the exhibition plays on the popular digital form of communication, the pieces gathered here are tangible three-dimensional objects made of fiber, ceramic, polymer, paper, and metal as well as two-dimensional works on paper. All works featured are drawn from RAM’s collection. Letters and script are used as design and pattern elements as well as conveyors of meaning. Examples include teapots decorated with narrative scenes overlaid with accompanying text, contemporary prints that highlight letters from urban signage, and baskets accented with or formed by words and script.

Written languages are just one of the many ways humans attempt to communicate with one another. Phrasing, tone, and context can offer a myriad of opportunities for reinforcement and support or misunderstanding and over-emphasis. In the twenty-first century, emailing and text messaging––often with new expressions or new forms of familiar phrases––dominate interpersonal exchanges.

Text Message also offers the opportunity to look at the relationship between the past and present through artist-designed posters from the 1920s. These “work incentive” posters published by Mathers Co. detail interpersonal rules for workplace behavior. These pieces, combining striking colorful imagery with moralizing text, offer a perspective on the past that resonates with contemporary concerns.