Language

66 x 30” ‡‡ Iron / Aluminum / Neodymium Magnets

What is language? It forms the basis of our communities and connections, our thoughts and feelings, defining the way we understand the world — a medium we are suspended in, as conscious of its hold on us as fish are of the water that surrounds them. Yet this thing we take as truth is no more than a crude device, fashioned and refashioned since the dawn of humanity to suit the ever-changing needs of its speakers. In this piece, Curran presents discarded tool fragments as the letterforms of an ancient language, perhaps spelling out a word for the sunset. Meanwhile, the real sunset behind them presents itself in a different language, the wordless song of the sky — both a testament to our hubris in the face of the ineffable, and a celebration of the transcendent power of art.