Magazine Overlay Series

Ink on vellum, acrylic, aluminum rod   

2004-2005      

This series consists of 24 wall mounted overlays, each translated from a different popular magazine. One sheet of vellum was overlayed on the magazine’s pages (starting at the cover and working through to the end) and the primary text headings are traced in ink, reflecting the predominant color scheme of the magazine. This was repeated for each of the 24 magazines, focusing only on text (article headings, advertisements, or primary titles). Each word/s is layered on the vellum in the position it occurs on the original page – leaving the sheet of vellum as the consolidated chaos of the words that illicit attraction to the content in the pages. The final image serves as a translation of the content – without any content at all. I’m interested in this knowledge that could only be visualized as this consolidated image – the words and typeface as symbols in themselves, but also as a representation of the range of identities put forth by magazines. 

Each image is contained in a clear acrylic sleeve and suspended 6” off the wall by aluminum rod. They have been grouped here by rather generalized “categories” but can also be rearranged and combined to heighten the similarities and contradictions between these cultural documents.