All of Michael Winkler’s individual works explore the imagery and implications of ‘spelled-forms.’ Spelled forms are visualizations of the patterns of alphabetic sequencing within the signs for written words. The project relies on a simple process that maps the letter-code of written words into a fixed circle of uniquely spaced alphabetic points.
The circular alphabetic configuration is organized by positioning the consonants between a symmetry of vowels (the configuration is based on a circle because it is the only two-dimensional shape that doesn’t have inherent spatial variation on its perimeter). When lines are drawn within the alphabetic circle that connect the letter-points according to the spelling of words, visual forms are generated. Since the process is rigorous and the configuration of alphabetic points is fixed, all variations in the imagery are the direct result of the spelling of words.
Winkler’s project has attracted interest both within and outside the art community, partly because it aligns with recent research in the science of how we read words. It’s been discovered that recognition of the code of alphabetic sequencing (the patterning underlying orthography or spelling) constitutes the sign for a written word, not recognition of a word’s graphic shape or image, as had been thought (Bouma Theory was incorrect; the new theory is Parallel Letter Recognition). Similarly, the sign for a spoken word resides in recognition of the patterning of the underlying vocalic gestures, not in recognition of the phonemic components themselves. The recent discoveries are problematic for cultural theorists and contemporary philosophers (Ferdinand de Saussure never examined the patterning of vocalic gestures, so his widely accepted assumption that the signs of language are arbitrary is groundless. Most theories are based on Saussure’s assumption).
The orthography of English words was not devised according to a plan, so any perception of a meaningful relationship between a word and its visualized patterning is inexplicable. It’s not impossible that the culturally mediated sense of a meaning unintentionally influenced the evolution of its sign. Until spelling was standardized in dictionaries, it evolved as all signs in living language evolve–it was formulated by the choices of the collective awareness of all those who participated in the evolution of the language (some of Winkler’s works explore the similarity between the hidden patterning in spelling and early artifacts of the emergence of the symbolic mind). But it’s also possible that a meaningful connection between a word and its image is simply the result of coincidence. But then again, perhaps coincidence itself, as Carl Jung believed, is a reflection of universal synchronicity.
For more about recent research into the signs of language, and its philosophical implications; see this excerpted chapter from The Image of Language.
LIGNS Print Series (click on the images to enlarge them)
Thousands of words in over a dozen Romanized languages have been explored.
The untitled work above was commissioned by Daimler Mercedes-Benz in 2015 (click on the image to enlarge it). It’s mixed-media on stretched canvas, height 183 cm, width 142cm (72 x 56 inches). It was created in a studio set up on-site as part of a special project at the Daimler Mercedes-Benz plant in Kassel, Germany. In this work, a common origin of basic forms inherent in the mechanism of human perception is treated as underlying both the patterning of the signs of language and the structure of mechanical systems. The work includes the 2000 year-old Antikythera Mechanism which uses 37 gears to accurately predict astronomical events. It illustrates how cosmological phenomena are also mirrored in the natural formation of language, sensory perception, and the structure of mechanical systems. The work is based on the spelled-forms of 12 German words–it includes one of Michael Winkler’s favorite words in any language, Variantenapparat (all possible variations).
Michael Winkler has been exploring the development of a fixed process that uses the spelling of words to generate the color in his paintings. The first painting to explore the use of alphabetic colors was NEVER SHAPES TOMORROW, 2013. After it was created, the process was significantly altered. The forms and colors of TRACES, 2017 were generated by the spelling of words using a new version of the process (both paintings can be seen on the Work Page). The new version of the process is currently being further refined.
