Focusing on art works (and series of works) used on the bindings and covers of literary works, and art works that incorporate words, we examine the close correlation between visual images and texts by presenting a wide range of artistic expressions.

Considering the Connections between "Words" and "Images" in Works from the Collection
In viewing art works such as paintings and sculptures, our imagination is sometimes triggered by the narratives that seem to lurk behind the images, causing us to wonder what someone in a picture might be thinking or what a certain landscape might represent. In reading a literary work, we also envision images based on descriptions of scenes or people in the text, and on the other hand, our imagination is sparked by interpreting the content or atmosphere in an illustration. Thus, there is a close and varied relationship between the visual images in a painting or sculpture and the words in a text.

Mutual Influences or Words That Call Up Images
There are many instances of poets and novelists being influenced by art works, and painters and other artists being influenced by literary works. In recent years, for example, we have seen reciprocal relationships such as the one between Nara Yoshitomo and Yoshimoto Banana, in which a collaborative effort is made to create book covers and illustrations, or write poems and novels that employ art works as a motif. In contemporary art, there are also some works that make use of the power of a text or word to evoke an image. In Alfredo Jaar's Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness (For Hiroshima), the artist incorporates the title of Oe Kenzaburo's memorable novel to examine the contemporary significance of "Hiroshima."

Examining the Relationship Between "Words" and "Images"
On the other hand, there are also works that examine the relationship between words and images by dealing with words as symbols and denying them any other meaning. By changing the spelling of the word "Sapolin" to "Apolinère" in what was originally a poster for the Sapolin enamel company, Marcel Duchamp used a kind of word play to give the image a completely different meaning in his work Apolinère Enameled. And in Takamatsu Jiro's Japanese Letters (These Seven Letters), the artist merely printed the seven letters in the Japanese phrase meaning "these seven letters" to emphasize the solid connection between written characters as symbols and meaning.

In this exhibition, through this group of works with links to words, we examine the relationship between visual images and texts.

* The text provided by Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art.

PEriod: March 17 - June 19, 2011
Venue: Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art