GRAZ.- The Grazer Kunstverein carries on its dedication and investigation into language, exchange and communication by presenting a duo exhibition by American artists Matt Keegan and Kay Rosen as part of the 30th anniversary program. Following Philippe Van Snick’s post-minimalist approach to painting, this exhibition investigates the physical relation to and translation of language in space, while simultaneously portraying an intimate dialogue between two artists from a different generation.

Kay Rosen (1949, US) has been exploring the possibilities of the word-as-image for the past decades. Her work takes pleasure in the small shift; the subtle change that subverts meaning and reveals the unexpected. In her paintings, drawings, wall works and collages she has used varied visual, grammatical, and typographical strategies to challenge the way people view, read and understand the works presented. Rosen’s work challenges and often responds to architecture and surroundings in which, besides language, colour is used to articulate her ideas in a way that is often witty, humorous and sometimes provocative.

Matt Keegan (1976, US) his work is known for his enigmatic combinations of design, photography, text, printmaking, and sculpture. Using stencil and printmaking techniques, the artist isolates idiomatic phrases—for instance, "it goes without saying" or "picture perfect"—and transforms them into art objects, calling attention to the materiality of language and its open-ended possibilities. Keegan is fascinated by the dynamics of social spaces, especially cities.

Keegan and Rosen’s approach to image and language overlap hence that they started exchanging thoughts and ideas that has resulted in an ongoing physical mail exchange since 2009.

The exhibition Eine Wanderausstellung is the first to bring together a selection of their mailings alongside works by each of the artists. The exhibition will take on a new form at the Contemporary Art Museum Houston later this fall.