Art Seen: VISPO at Eyedrum

This delightfully cynical sign might be the most immediately legible piece in VISPO, Eyedrum’s juried show of visual poetry. Those big block letters mounted on a real-estate-type corrugated signage are paired with videos, a mobile sculpture, a container of burned book covers, and other playful twists on the border between image and text. Jeff Dahlgren said Eyedrum’s literary committee had selected work by looking for “Anuses, Button Holes, & Pupils. I’m reminded of a Jean Dubuffet speaking about art of the insane, saying essentially that it made as much sense to throw all of it away as it did to keep all of it.”

The show is particularly well hung and deserves a patient walk through to take in the massive number of pieces arranged in such a small space. Trying to figure out exactly who did what in the show isn’t easy, though. I got a handwritten list of the artists, but I wasn’t able to quite match up the works with the names. By email, Dahlgren assured me that the show included work from “All of the best Visual Poets in the entire world. (except for troylloyd).” Take that for what it’s worth.

VISPO continues at Eyedrum until May 15. Check Eyedrum for Details.