Artists include words, letters and written text in their works. Words can be content or form or both simultaneously, speaking in tongues or in ideas we directly understand. Sometimes context is all. In this photograph the text is removed from context and purpose. We ask, “what does ‘Nevada time’ mean?” and images of gambling houses, tumbleweeds in desert wind or divorcees seeking change float into our minds. Or maybe not, perhaps it’s that obliqueness that charms us.
Duchamp’s Mona Lisa with mustache and goatee and it’s inscription L.H.O.O.Q. is an intriguing take on words in art. The Mona Lisa’s serene smile is not disturbed by the accusatory wordplay. When you sound the letters out they say, "Elle a chaud au cul", translating loosely to "she is a hot down there". Duchamp makes fun and simultaneously comments on art.
Perhaps “Nevada Time” refers to blog time…
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