Charles Gute, untitled (HUO drawings), 2003, ink on paper, 11.5 x 14 inches each. Image copyright of the artist
Conceptual artist Charles Gute spends his day copy editing art books, which makes me a little self conscious writing this post, since he’s likely to notice nobody’s coming here for our clean copy. I like the work though, so assuming he sees this, he’ll just have to suffer through poor comma placement and the occasional misspelling.
Speaking of the like, HUO drawings, an Ed Ruscha like series of carefully rendered drawings documenting the misspelling of the name Hans Ulrich Obrist, a well known curator and art critic ranks amongst my favorite works on the artist’s site. Inspired by a project involving the proofreading Hans Ulrich Obrist’s Interviews: Volume 1, Gute became acutely aware of a well known name with what he describes as “a greater-than-average vulnerability to typographic inconsistency”. Naturally the result was a 25 drawing series of careful font renderings matching the various forms taken by the name Hans Ulrich Obrist. For some reason, this very much inspired the web nerd in me to check the frequency with which some of my favorite Gute identified misspellings occur. I can’t tell you how much it pleases me to see Han Solo Richobrist top off this list in popularity! Han Solo Richobrist (2), Hans Ulrich Obreast (1) Hans Earl-Rick Obrist (0) Han’s Ulrich Obrist (0) Hans Ulrick O’Brist (0)
Bonus Art Pick From the Charles Gute Website
Charles Gute, Art and Objecthood Redux, 2004 (view from gallery entrance), wood, enamel paint, adhesive vinyl, 6 x 5 x 1 ft, photo copyright of the artist
From the artist’s website;
Based on a vernacular joke, this freestanding wall/slab with identical text on both sides illustrates the “theatrical” condition described in the essay “Art and Objecthood,” critic Michael Fried’s notorious denunciation of minimalism.
Pretty much perfect.
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