Tauba Auerbach (b. 1981)

These specific letters are inspired by a German alphabet designed by Paulus Frank in 1601. In the tradition of illuminated manuscripts, such an ornamental font treats each letter both as an object of worship and as a means of expressing worship towards what is written. But as much as these pieces are a celebration of the individual letters, they are also an expression of the idea that celebration--in this case, through embellishment--can lead to obliteration. They are meant to teeter on the edge of decipherability, oscillating between legibility and abstraction (T. Auerbach, How to Spell The Alphabet, New York, 2006, p. 6).