When installed on the floor the slab is placed on a shallow wooden plinth, with the letters pointing up to the ceiling, so that a shadow is cast underneath the slab making it appear as though it is floating just above the floor. The artist has specified that the sculpture may be displayed directly on the floor, propped up against a wall, or placed on a gilded shelf. The inscribed letters are a lighter colour than the polished surface of the slab so that they stand out against the black. While the word ‘PARTIAL’ is centrally aligned on the upper register, the word ‘TRUTH’ below is indented slightly to the right of centre. Partial Truth comprises a rectangular slab of polished black granite into which have been carved the words ‘PARTIAL TRUTH’ over two lines in the Roman-style lettering scriptura monumentalis. The reader is invited to imagine what is only described, and to project their own memories and associations onto the artist’s words. For many, text-based works are a way to actively engage viewers. Some of these artists focus on the act of writing as a form of making: inscribing, painting, carving, scribbling, typing or embroidering words as personal, meditative and poetic acts. Others reflect on language as an expression of human culture, capable of transmitting ideas, influencing behaviour and memorialising people and events. For some artists, text provides a unique way to translate and materialise their ideas. Many of the works in this room respond directly to the proliferation of language and text in the information age, particularly in relation to consumerism. Those interested in concrete poetry (such as Ian Hamilton Finlay) and conceptual art (such as Lawrence Weiner) often made artworks from text alone. Artists associated with movements like cubism and Pop Art had long incorporated words found in advertising and mass media. They demonstrate different ways of engaging with text and its role as a form of communication.īy the late 1960s, text was the primary focus of many visual artworks. This room brings together works produced in the last 50 years in Europe and the USA. People have used language as an expressive art form for millennia, from oral tradition and the spoken word, to illuminated manuscripts and printed publications.
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