Pardon my rusty Portuguese (ok, my non-existent Portuguese, which is even rustier), but I just discovered a great art blog, Gramatologia, published by the Brazilian artist Amir Brito Cadôr. Amir’s work and the work of other artists he features is predominantly text-based in many different languages, and the site is mostly visual, so it doesn’t matter if you don’t read Portuguese. Check it out.
Amir’s work is often caligraphic, and plays with type and alphabets. Here is a self-serving example of three randomly chosen pieces from his Livro dos Seres Imaginários (Book of the Imaginary Beings) that just happen to spell my name when combined in just the right way:
I’ve discovered a lot of interesting artists and work on Gramatologia that I had never heard of before, such as Jan Olof Mallander, whose work also includes another “J”..hmm… is this a pattern with me?
Here is a good bio on the Finnish artist, which leads off with this bit of inspiration:
In the winter of 1972-73, the Cheap Thrills Gallery , founded by Jan-Olof Mallander, was converted into a macrobiotic restaurant. For a few weeks, the gallery served the public vegetarian cuisine instead of art. The experiment was the forerunner of the first vegetarian restaurant in Finland. When Mallander, a macrobiotic himself, was some time later seen in a restaurant cutting up a juicy steak, he merely said: “Know your enemy…”
I was about to show more examples, but there is so much good work on Gramatologia, I’d be here all day, so just go check it out for yourself.
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