Bob Brown (again)

Yes, I know, you have probably heard a great deal about Bob Brown from me, but his writing has been a heavy influence on me for over a year now. I was recently in the British Library looking at a book of his called "1450-1950", and I have just discovered those wonderful lot over at Ubu Web have gone a digitized it, how useful! So now you can see it too, just click here <-->

For those who don't know much about him, Bob Brown was an American avant-garde writer and poet, and in 1930 wrote a call for nbooks to escape their binding, text to leave the page behind and for readers to
'see words machine-wise' (Brown, 1930, The Readies, p. 37). He wanted reading and writing to catch up with the rest of the fast paced age he lived in and so proposed a reading machine. This machine was never fully realised and yet the legacy of Brown and his reading machine lives on and has recently come to be much
discussed in light of the advent of the e-reader (New York Times article, 2010)

So you can probably see why he and his machine interests me so much. But back to the book above, doesn't it remind you of Shrigley's work?!? It struck me instantly when I opened the book and leafed through the pages. I wonder if Shrigley saw Brown's work...?

Page from David Shrigley's
Centre-parting 
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1998