Bez tytułu (Teksty numeryczne)
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- Untitled (Numerical Texts)
- Bez tytułu (Teksty numeryczne)
- 1974
- 12 computer printouts mounted on cardboard
- 41,5 x 79,5 cm
The "Numerical Texts" series consists of 12 prints (boards) that depict differing configurations of numbers from 1 to 0. Its concept is distinct from that of Roman Opałka’s entirely existential and radical grey paintings, which counted through a thread of numbers leading up to his death (resulting in thousands of painted numbers). In case of Dróżdż, counting in this series always ends with zero, thus resembling the result of a logical game or prints from the first electronic calculations. But Dróżdż was not attempting to calculate anything—his focus was on the imagery of the numerical combinations and “permutations,” to use his term. The two artists knew each other and possibly discussed their artistic processes—each of them was extremely precise in his work and had an interest in the category of the “mistake,” the “failure,” in sequences of numbers (or words). In this variant of Dróżdż’s series of “numerical texts” (“teksty cyfrowe”), ten of the twelve works present a set of large numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0) formed by very small, tautologically typewritten numerals embedded in a field of other numerals typed over the entire composition, sometimes barely legible and gradually disappearing. There are no typing errors. The numbers are done in a very precise way, as a spatial and almost anamorphic or illusionistic exercise: from clearly visible numbers to nearly invisible shapes. Two of the twelve boards are different, possibly treated as a conclusion: one depicts large numerals (again running from 1 to 0) made of small-sized numerals typed onto the white background, while the other depicts “flat” rows of small numerals only. For Dróżdż, the number (Polish: “cyfra”) as such was “the most abstract value in concrete poetry … the one you can turn around to all sides in all possible ways, and it will still remain itself.” B.P.