Untitled (Davidson Print ii) from the collection of Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College

Untitled (Davidson Print ii), 2006

Hand-colored woodcut on Zerkall Book Smooth paper

12 x 9.5 in (30.48 x 24.13 cm)

Edition. 2/50

Inv: 2729

Location: Sloan Music Center

Gallery Purchase

In the winter of 2006, several of Robert Lazzarini’s works on paper were displayed here at Davidson College. During his visit, Lazzarini digitally manipulated a 15th century woodcut entitled "A House Beleaguered by Devils," c. 1482, (Accession Number 2340) to make three new pieces, Untitled I-III. All four pieces, including the original, feature Old German text from Hieronymous’s Leben der Heiligen Altväter.

Lazzarini’s work reminds us that it’s important to challenge what constitutes our definition of a “text.” Who, historically, has been excluded from the canon and from academia writ large? Perhaps textual histories are not the only credible sources of knowledge.

Untitled I-III raises questions of textual accessibility through its use of Old German and dramatic distortion of the letters. It is simultaneously inaccessible to those are visually impaired, intellectually impaired, and those who have no disability at all. The act of looking at these woodcuts “crips” even those who conform to the normate, defamiliarizing the familiar. In addition, the three different distortions reflect the range of variation in ability. Because there are three distortions to the one original, here, the “normate” is in the minority––gesturing towards both the large disability community and the idea that we will all experience disability one day.

Even Lazzarini’s technique in creating these pieces represents a new, accessible kind of art. Since he used a computer to digitally distort the images with sine waves, it represents a methodology that can be used by anyone, regardless of physical or mental ability, to create art.

From Van Every/Smith Galleries at Davidson College

Susan Harbage Page

Border Wall, Border Patrol Car, and Barbed Wire (Muro fronterizo, vehículo de la Patrulla Fronter..., 2012

Color inkjet print on cotton rag paper

17 x 22 in (43.18 x 55.88 cm)
Wayne Kimball

Namor Epyt Eisroh, 1982

Lithograph on paper

11.0625 x 15 in (28.1 x 38.1 cm)
Andy Warhol

Unidentified Children (Boy in Purple Tie with Girl in White Dress), 1980

Polaroid

4.25 x 3.375 in (10.8 x 8.57 cm)
Robert Weaver

Standing Nude, 1980

Lithograph on paper

20.25 x 15.125 in (51.44 x 38.42 cm)
William R. Ferris

Lucindy McGriggs, Mary Gordon, John Henry Wright, Diane Wright Smith, Beatrice Wright McGowan, ... Rose Hill Church, Fisher Ferry Road, Warren County, 1975

Chromogenic print

16.25 x 24 in (41.28 x 60.96 cm)
Todd Webb

Dominguin Praying Before Improvised Shrine, 1951

Gelatin silver print

9.25 x 6.75 in (23.5 x 17.15 cm)
Charles Émile Jacque

Porte d'Auberge, 1849

Etching on paper

5.5 x 6 in (13.97 x 15.24 cm)
Gene Merritt

Merlin Helper at Pilgrims Inn, n.d.

Ink on paper

11 x 8.5 in (27.94 x 21.59 cm)

View All Artworks

About the artist

Robert Lazzarini

American

b. 1965

American painter and sculptor. Lazzarini was born in New Jersey and currently resides in New York City. He received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 1990, and has exhibited nationwide and overseas since 1995. His installations include the Sculpture Garden at the Hirshhorn Museum, “Skulls” at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He is known for creating disorienting works that confuse visual and haptic space through common objects. He is influenced by minimalism and phenomenology.

Additional Details

Additional Artworks

Border Wall, Border Patrol Car, and Barbed Wire (Muro fronterizo, vehículo de la Patrulla Fronter..., 2012

Namor Epyt Eisroh, 1982

Unidentified Children (Boy in Purple Tie with Girl in White Dress), 1980

Standing Nude, 1980

Lucindy McGriggs, Mary Gordon, John Henry Wright, Diane Wright Smith, Beatrice Wright McGowan, ... Rose Hill Church, Fisher Ferry Road, Warren County, 1975

Dominguin Praying Before Improvised Shrine, 1951

Porte d'Auberge, 1849

Merlin Helper at Pilgrims Inn, n.d.

About the artist

Robert Lazzarini