visualetymology
is a long term project that I began in 2006. The work exists as prints and books. I started this work in reaction to the phrase ‘art is a language’. After coming to the conclusion that this phrase is not only wrong but does art a disservice, I began to make an etymology of art, as if to prove the thesis incorrect. Art cannot be a language because language would not exist were it not for the rules and standards that it is ordered by. Art habitually reneges such bracketing in favor of a total reinvention in terms of form, style, content and media. This work is made in the knowledge that the work cannot achieve its aim, and that to all intents and purposes, the notion of an etymologically driven art, one that distils gesture into audible sound, metaphorizing the transcription necessary to believe in the statement that begot the project. Its very name is a contradiction in terms.*Currently, there are 14 series or iterations of visualetymology. There are literally hundreds of pieces in each iteration, I have included a small portion of them in this slideshow. This page is documentation of the book. If you would like to see more of this series, please see this link: or contact me through this site. Another iteration is included on this site, along with information about the book made through this series.
2006-ongoing (printed 2008) 222 pages
