The Funk & Wag from A to Z
installation view at The Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, TX
2012
excised printed pages from The Universal Standard Encyclopedia, 1953-56, by Wilfred Funk, Inc., archival water-based glue, paper
524 collages, each varies from 8 x 11 inches to 17 x 23 inches, installation variable
A popular, vintage encyclopedia is processed to represent contradictory layers and logic of personal and public information. The images have been extracted from all twenty-five volumes of a 1953-56 Funk & Wagnall Encyclopedia and reconfigured as collages, unleashing the potentiality of images trapped by historical context. New political and psychological associations emerge in the black and white presentation that covers the walls.
VOLUME I No. 10 Playing Rockefeller Center
VOLUME I No. 17 Survival is a Delicate Act
VOLUME V No. 11 The Specter of Urban Decay Rises From the Rubble
VOLUME VI No. 15 Crusty Confucius
VOLUME IX No. 8 Please Do Not Touché
VOLUME X No. 5 Black Angel
VOLUME XI No. 11 No Appetite for Island Architecture
VOLUME XI No. 13 You’re Not From Around Here, Are You?
VOLUME XIII No. 9 Beauty and the Boat
VOLUME XIV No. 5 Undermining Frankfurt Kentucky
VOLUME XIV No. 12 Oil Spills
VOLUME XX No. 7 The Western Sahara
VOLUME XXII No. 9 Shadow Tail Shout Out, Furry Fury
VOLUME IX No. 11 The Revelers Would Have to Pay
VOLUME X No. 13 Sea of War-Monstruo de la Guerra
VOLUME VII No. 1 Gothic vs. Romanesque