Jan Estep, Hot Air Sincerely, 2007, artist book, paperback, perfect bound, two-color, offset printed, 158 pages, 5.5" x 8".
Hot Air Sincerely
[2007] In the text-driven work Hot Air Sincerely, I use phrases based on common cliches, vernacular sayings, excerpts from theoretical essays, books, song lyrics, and other found commentary, as well as my own words. The combined texts trouble the relationship between seeing and knowing while foregrounding our daily engagement with language, the curious way we take words for granted to refer to things completely other to language. It also draws attention to the felt materiality of words as they move in and against our physical bodies. The piece exists in two forms: as a series of 156 hand-embroidered stretched-linen panels, each presenting a single phrase, that are installed on a gallery wall; and as an artist book comprising photographic details of each panel, shown here. The panels are arranged to create a loose through line as you read them, and are grouped thematically. For example, one section reads:
The limits of my language are the limits of my world.
The name escapes me.
Words fail me.
Words don’t do it justice.
Words can’t describe it.
What cannot be said.
On the other side of language.
The threshold of words.
The prison house of language.
Deja vu, deja lu.
Does language speak us?
Who is speaking?
Speak to me with your eyes.
The book is paperback, perfect bound, two-color, offset-printed, 158 pages.
