The Simpsons – Fractured Language

Ottawa artist Danny Hussey was watching The Simpsons with his language-disabled daughter when the DVD froze, fracturing the image into pixels. The experience inspired a series of eight paintings called Signs of Language, exemplifying Hussey’s thoughts about the impermanence of technology and the scope of language.

Here was the DVD, a relatively new medium, that was supposed to be the pinnacle of image conveyance, and it had flaws and weaknesses.  The parallels with my daughter were obvious, however, not limited by her condition she will grow and learn over time. Time will not be so kind to the DVD, most likely to be cast aside at the first sign of a new and better technological marvel. –Artist Statement

The construction and content of the eight large multi-layered, mixed media paintings is fascinating. They’re on 73X41-inch plywood panels made up of 144 panels 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches – each with six distinct components.

The first (and fascinating) layer is composed of line drawings of American Sign Language symbols routed into the plywood, followed by a layer of still images from the Simpsons DVD.  (Below: The 40 wood-cut blocks of ASL that were an  integral part of the works. / Go to the artist’s extensive descriptions for how these works were created.)

Hussey is on exhibit at Ottawa’s Cube Gallery  through March 3, 2013.  He combines painting, plywood constructions, wood cuts, block printing, screen printing, photography, and video.

Danny Hussey’s website, here.