Typography in Art

I am intrigued when artists who are not designers use letterforms or typographic inspiration to influence their art. I think it’s really interesting that typography can be elevated to an art form, and appreciated by the average citizen who is not knowledgeable about typography.

Go Font Urself* is “an Exhibition of Type Based Artworks” that is held in Australia. Five shows, or “chapters” have been held since Feb. ‘09. The exhibition showcases artwork from artists all over the world, and type is the main component of each piece.The site also has profiles of each artist. Visitors can check out other work (not necessarily type-related) by the artists.







Jess Hische actually contributed to Chapter 3, with her “Say it with Flowers” piece.



I think the work by Sarah A. King is reflective of what some of people were trying to do with the Bird's Eye View assignment. A lot of her work consists of creating shapes and images out of words.

I also stumbled on the sculpture artist Doug Aitken. He does a lot of installation and video pieces, but one series he did is titled “text sculpture.” Again, it’s this idea of artists using typography as a medium in the process of conveying a message.