Bob Holman and Archie Rand “Invisible City”

Freight and Volume

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Freight+Volume presents Bob Holman and Archie Rand’s Invisible City.

Invisible City is a collaborative body of work consisting of 50 canvases inscribed with lines from Holman’s eponymous poem, which was cut-up and reformulated during the process of collaboration, with the disembodied fragments of text then paired with Rand’s canvases. Rand’s unique visual style melds a graphic directness resembling that of pulp comics or graphic novels with a painterly, expressive sensibility underscored by a vivid technicolor palette; these scenes often conflict with the self-identified idealism of Holman’s poetry, with each chunk of the poem often forming a jarring, enigmatic juxtaposition with its corresponding illustration. The project defies the typical binary relationship of illustration and text, instead adopting a radical dynamic of unpredictability and suggestion, opening up a third space alongside the visual and narrative. Spurning logic and passive observation, Invisible City simultaneously mystifies and provokes the viewer to form their own understanding of the relationship between image and text.

[Image: “Not Even the Athletes Know the Score” (2017) acrylic and enamel on canvas, 32 x 16 in.]