Language as image
In her introduction letter to me, Silvia Izi wrote of “painting” several times… In the 1960’s Silvia studied at the Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden with Friedrich Poppl and Werner Schneider. Later she developed a close working relationship with Karlgeorg Hoefer. These beginnings produced an individualistic and experimental /graphic designer. She is drawn to interpreting the deeply philosophical…often in series. The material represented here is taken from the written works of Ernst Bloch, specifically Principle of Hope
“I created a series of brush-written calligrapic pieces which I called “Sprachbilder” (language as image). I did a book as well, mixing calligraphy and typography with those phrases by the philosopher that affected me in particular. It is like a dialogue on paper with discursive thinking in dialectic terms, on the part of Bloch, and visually shaped ideas of words, on my part. The aim of both of us seems to be the same: visionary in content, abstract in meaning and experimental in spirit. Words are most delicate things because of their ambiguity, and to use them properly is a great challenge to me. Just a single word contains a multitude of meanings and emotion depending on how it is used, and why, and under what kind of circumstances. The words that I prefer are abstract and therefore emotional. It is (e)motion my calligraphy consists of in particular.
What fascinates me most while working with the brush is the spontaneity of expression you can obtain and the emotional effect while the whole body is involved in the process of writing.”
Michael Clark in “Scripsit” Journal of the Washington Calligraphers Guild, April 2000, Volume 23, Number 1.