David Benrimon Fine Art is pleased to present “WORD PLAY,” an exhibition of text-based works explore the relationship between language and art, from Mel Bochner’s ‘Blah Blah’ monoprints to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s graffiti-inspired works. The show brings together artists from the last century who incorporate the written word, letters and phrases as a central part of their visual language. Words and their connotations are investigated; Ed Ruscha, Mel Bochner and Robert Indiana drew inspiration from the American vernacular and advertising signage from our everyday environment, while Basquiat combines and layers text and image as a social commentary on identity, culture, and history. Contemporary artists merge text and image to create poignant and humorous narratives. British artist David Shrigley creates satirical combinations of text and image in a sketchbook style, and Joel Mesler experiments with melding elaborate typography into patterned backgrounds of nature scenes in a surrealist fashion.