Code Talking: Word and Symbol as Image

“Code Talking: Word and Symbol as Image”

"Code Talking: Word and Symbol as Image" was my solo show at the now defunct Leich Lathrop Gallery in Albuquerque's Old Town.  It included twenty works exploring the language aspect of identity.  Here is my artist's statement from the show as well as some of the works.

Artist's Statement for "Code Talking."

My work is invariably about identity, as shaped by place, language and genetics and revealed in the mark making unique to each person.

Encaustic (pigmented wax) is my primary medium. The surfaces on which I work are paper, Baltic birch plywood, and encausticbord. I create series of paintings rather than single works so that I can fully explore a subject or idea. My technique involves layering my materials. Layers give the work the physical and psychological depth that I want.

This body of work explores the language aspect of identity, as it is manifested in all kinds of codes. From ancient glyphs to contemporary texting, humans have been amazingly inventive in creating secret ways to communicate with one another.

Technology has made such secret communication more accessible and faster.

"Genetic Marker #1." 2012.  Mixed media.  13 x 13."

Technlogy has made such secret communication more accessible and faster.  But accessibilitly and speed have come at a cost.  The internet, e-mail, Facebook and other "social media" can be weapons as well as "friends."  There is ample opportunity for government spying, leaking secrets, and making serious mistakes.  Where disgruntled spouses once hired private eyes, attorneys now mine the internet to gather evidence for their divorce clients.  It is readily, shamelessly available.  The internet provides materialistic cultures yet more avenues for shopping, even as the so-called "Third World" peoples create revolutions with it














Some of the new codes are visually quite beautiful, especially the QR (quick response) codes, which a Los Angeles artist has likened to Navajo rug weavings. I have also used them in this exhibition. 

Texting has created an entirely new language and spelling system. Some text codes are used by children to keep information from their parents: KPC=keep parents clueless; 9=parent is watching; and 99=parent is no longer watching. 

Other texting codes set up sexual encounters: GNOC=get naked on cam. Some are hilariously insulting and sexist: BOBFOC=body off Baywatch, face off Crimewatch. One of my favorites is: IITLYTO (if it’s too loud, you’re too old). I detest contemporary assaults on silence, such as obnoxious music in restaurants.

Language embodies culture, so contemporary codes say a lot about both who we are as a people and as individuals. It’s difficult to make ethical judgments about the astonishing changes being wrought by new codes. We can only try to understand them.           

Harriette Tsosie
October 2013

Piano Roll #2.  Mixed media/panel. 30 x 24'

Piano Roll #3.  Mixed media/panel.  30 x 24"

Advent.  Mixed media/panel. 30 x 24"

"Triple Sec" to Albuquerque Museum Show

My triptych, "Triple Sec" has been selected for inclusion in the Albuquerque Museum's  "Miniatures and More" exhibition, October 26 - December 8 at the Museum.  Pictured below.

"Sec"

"Triple Sec"

"Double Sec"

Solo exhibition opens at Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque

"I HAVE A QUESTION and there's no one left to answer it" opened Friday, May 3, at the Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico.  The exhibition installation is the culmination of a year's work pursuing my interest in identity issues.  The work both incorporates and is responsive to my grandparents love letters (1906 - 1911) and my paternal grandmother's diaries (1900 - 1968).

His and Hers.  2013.  Mixed media.

Departing from my usual mode of working in encaustic for this exhibition, I produced 12 fine art prints which hung on the gallery walls.  The prints  incorporated family photos into the actual text of the diaries and letters, illustrating the tradition of fine penmanship and the art of composing letters now basically lost to our culture with the advent of comptures.  The fine art prints cover ten years of my Grandmother's life, 1900 - 1910, from her youth (she was 17 when she started keeping the diaries) through her young adulthood.


Augmenting the photos and text is a series of 12 boxes called "Family Secrets."  These works respond to information in the diaries and letters for which there are no photographs.  They also reference family secrets, such as the discovery that my paternal great grandfather was Jewish.  (I wondered why therefor I was not Jewish, but some Jewish friends explained that Jewishness is inherited from the mother).  My great grandfather was also the subject of two lawsuits brought against him by the widow of his partner, who felt she had been shortchanged in his purchase of her husband's share of their paint brush manufacturing company.  The company, Rennous Kleinle & Company, is depicted on the cover of the piece called "Shhh."

"Shh." (front view). 2013. Mixed media

               

"Shh." 2013.  Mixed media.

Other "Family Secret" boxes address the perceived shortcomings of my Grandfather:  he was poor, Irish and Catholic: "Three Strikes."  Because of those prejudices, my Grandmother's family did not want her to marry him.  A five year long courtship ensued.

"Three Strikes." 2013.  Mixed media.

The pasttimes enjoyed by my grandparents generation were simple and wholesome: playing cards (euchre) and other games (caroom); canoeing; going for walks; tennis; music programs (my Grandmother played the piano).  As automobiles were popularized, "automobiling" became a pasttime as well.

As was behavior, gifts and prizes were carefully prescribed.  Grandmother was an excellent euchre player and the prizes she won included: handkerchiefs, pins, gloves, a china "hair receiver," cups and saucers, lace collars, pictures, a brass candle stick.



A common courtship gift was candy, usually "Huyler's."  My Grandmother had very poor teeth, probably as a result of this sweet gift.  (Fortunately her uncle was a dentist).  Throughout the ten year period covered in the exhibition, she has as many as 20 suitors.  By counting the number of times their names appeared in her diaries, I was able to determine her favorites.  They are depicted in "Candymen," a box of wax (encaustic) chocolates, the legend of which names the men.

"The Candymen." 2013,  Mixed media.

"The Candymen." (inside view). 2013. Mixed media.

The cover of "The Candymen" is a lithograph image of the candy factory, set inside a coconut (a key candy ingredient) with horse drawn carriages carting the candies off to be eaten by fair young maidens.  Huyler's was based in New York and operated a chain of restaurants and candy stores.  Its founder became one of the trustees of Syracuse University.  When he died, his sons inherited and ran the family business.