Lawrence Weiner (b. 1942, New York, NY; d. 2021, New York, NY), one of the central figures of Conceptual Art in the late 1960s, used language as the primary medium for his work. Presented in capital letters, his works are often accompanied by graphic marks and lines, finding their way into the world on gallery walls, building exteriors, floors, and books, or spread by word of mouth. Each piece refers to the artist’s simple description of their content: LANGUAGE + THE MATERIALS REFERRED TO. Weiner’s use of text fragments ranges from the philosophical to the vernacular, delving into the visual and conceptual beauty of wordplay.

 

In his work FROM THE SEA TO THE HARBOR FROM THE HARBOR TO THE SEA FROM THE SEA TO ANOTHER SHORE (2015), installed in OCMA’s café, Verdant, the transitions and repetitions of words convey a structure that reveals the cyclical nature of its subject: water. Poetic in its evocation of sea imagery, the work echoes the museum’s original location near the waterfront of Orange County.