A recent issue of C Magazine, themed “Location,” features documentation of an artwork by ERA’s Josh Thorpe and artist David Court. The work On Printed Matter was exhibited at the New York institution Printed Matter in 2011 and was recently republished in C’s inside-back-cover section “Artefact.”
On Printed Matter is an installation of text in vinyl lettering on the shopfront window of Printed Matter. The left panel is installed on the interior, reading left to right from outside the shop; the right panel is installed on the exterior, reading left to right from inside the shop. The text was compiled from a handful of interviews with artists, architects, and critics and discusses the space, context, architecture, and history of Printed Matter in a loose, descriptive, analytical manner.
Printed Matter Inc. was started in NYC in 1976 by a group of artists and writers including Sol Lewitt, Carl Andre, and Lucy Lippard. It has a long history of publishing and distributing artist books and ephemera. The interior of the shop is bursting with image after image and text after text. Even the facade is a dense layering of stickers, signage, and display. On Printed Matter simply multiplies this layering of information and material.
To see more images of this work and others, please the Josh Thorpe’s website.
