Mel Bochner - UNNAMEABLE

Mel Bochner - UNNAMEABLE

Mel Bochner
UNNAMEABLE
Monoprint with collage, engraving and embossment on hand- dyed Twinrocker handmade paper
Signed in graphite recto
Frame included - held in a bespoke handmade white wood frame in accordance with the artist's and publisher's specifications.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title." - Romeo and Juliet (Act II, Scene II)

A compelling example from Mel Bochner's celebrated Thesaurus series, Unnameable (2019) distills the artist's longstanding investigation into language, meaning and the instability of naming. Rendered in Bochner's signature cascading format, the work begins with formal descriptors - "UNNAMEABLE", "NAMELESS", "ANONYMOUS" - before slipping into colloquial phrases and jargon such as "what's-his-face" and "whatchamacallit." This deliberate descent from precision to ambiguity reflects Bochner's central premise: that language, far from fixing meaning, continually unravels it. In many ways, this work is one of the most representative of the conceptual themes of Bochner's practice, because it directly references the basis of our own system of language and communication: naming and identifying objects in our universe.
Created as a hand-worked monoprint with collage, engraving, and embossment, the work bears the tactile richness and deep colors characteristic of Bochner's finest works. The hand-dyed Twinrocker paper introduces subtle tonal variation, while the layered surface and relief elements emphasize the physicality of language - an essential aspect of Bochner's practice.
Mel Bochner - a pioneer of conceptual art since the 1960s, has consistently challenged the authority of systems - linguistic, philosophical and visual. His Thesaurus works, among his most recognizable bodies of work, occupy a critical position between painting and printmaking, combining rigorous intellectual structure with bold chromatic presence.
Measurements:
Framed
14 inches (vertical) by 22.25 inches (horizontal) by 2 inches (depth)
Artwork:
11.75 inches (vertical) by 20.25 inches (horizontal)

Artist Mel Bochner is highly regarded by many as a pioneer in the Conceptual Art movement. Staying true to his oeuvre, the present piece is an examination of the interconnectedness of language and art, executed in brilliant blues and an analog print-style text. The work demonstrates a continuing exploration of semantics and the ways in which visual representation informs the meaning of things.