Interviewsand Articles
Broken Glasses
by Richard Whittaker, Nov 25, 2008
In March of 2008 Lawrence Rinder brought Franck Andre Jamme's small framed mirrors with their hand-painted texts of simple profoundities to Meridian Gallery as part of a larger exhibit [Todd Bura, Leonie Guyer, Prajakti Jayavant, Phil McGaughy, Evelyn Reyes, and Dean Smith]. There must have been more than fifty of these small pieces.
Jamme's strategy of omitting spaces between words and breaking lines in the middle of words slows one down considerably in reading the words. The effort required to decipher these short texts takes one out of conditioned habits of reading. It wakes one up a little and, compared to how we ordinarily consume texts, brings one closer to the meaning of the ideas expressed. 
As I stood in front of each of these little mirrors making my own efforts to decipher the texts, over and over I found myself grateful for the rewards that kept appearing. It reminded me how such feelings are not called forth often enough. -Richard Whittaker
About the Author
Richard Whittaker is the founding editor of works & conversations and West Coast editor of Parabola magazine
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