FURNACE OF BEAUTIFUL MUSIC (Unit 16) DIADEM, BOYISH HAIRS, GREY LANDSCAPE

Painting

-

DePaul Art Museum

Name/Title

FURNACE OF BEAUTIFUL MUSIC (Unit 16) DIADEM, BOYISH HAIRS, GREY LANDSCAPE

Entry/Object ID

2019.19

Description

Small yellow canvas with two large abstract shapes on the left side. Smaller abstract shapes on the bottom and right side of canvas, surrounded by the letters D, B, H, G, and L.

Artwork Details

Medium

Enamel on canvas on board

Context

Mark Booth is a sound and audio artist based in Chicago. He explores the material qualities of language in text, image, and sound, as well as the ways that language functions, and often fails, to describe human experience. Experiencing the world with dyslexia, Booth uses his work to make sense of his own disjointed experience with words and meaning, drawing attention to the materiality of language and signifying systems. In FURNACE OF BEAUTIFUL MUSIC (Unit 16) DIADEM, BOYISH HAIRS, GREY LANDSCAPE, Booth manipulates the letters that comprise the work’s title D, B, H, G, and L, using them as graphic signifiers within the space of the work. Challenging the traditional form of an artwork wherein the title is physically separate from the work, Booth brings the title itself into the work, providing a visual depiction of the act of entitling and naming, giving a visual form to the often abstract linguistic process. The letters are in turn juxtaposed with abstract shapes that resemble microorganisms perhaps suggesting that language is an ever-evolving living organism.

Acquisition

Accession

2019.17-25

Source or Donor

Julie Campbell, Shane Campbell

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

Gift of Julie and Shane Campbell

Made/Created

Artist

Mark Booth

Date made

1996

Ethnography

Notes

American

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Type

Inscription

Transcription

FURNACE OF BEAUTIFUL MUSIC (Unit 16) DIADEM * BOYISH HAIRS, GREY LANDSCAPE

Type

Inscription

Transcription

To Julie & Shane - 1997

Type

Signature

Transcription

Mark Booth 1996

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Painting

Nomenclature Class

Art

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials

Abstract paintings

Search Terms

Linguistics, Sound art

Dimensions

Dimension Description

Canvas

Height

8-1/8 in

Width

13-1/16 in

Depth

3/4 in

Dimension Notes

20.63 cm. x 33.17 cm. x 1.90 cm.