Irma Blank

Celle, Germany, 1934 - Milan, Italy, 2023

“Towards the end of the Sixties, after a long period of existential and creative effort, in an atmosphere of linguistic experiment, and to escape the transience and ambiguity of the word, I returned to the sign itself, to the Urzeichen, to the primordial, undifferentiated sign that precedes the word. It was a new start, shifting the gaze to the beginning, to the Ursprung, a pure act of writing, a primeval communicative energy that schooled and realised itself in the sign that in its evolution is writing — scription, to quote Roland Barthes. It denudes writing of sense to charge it with other values.

I save writing from its enslavement to sense: writing purified of sense. I return to the zero point, the semantic zero, the semantic void: silence as a germinating source.

 

I give autonomy back to the sign, to the body of writing, in order to give voice to the silence, to the void. To the thoughts unthought. Writing is not linked to knowing, but to being. Writing is the home of being. I free writing from sense and highlight its structure, its skeleton, the nude sign, the sign that is such and does not refer back to anything but itself. It refers to the energy reserve, to the initial drive, the source-giving urge, the desire to reveal itself, to emerge from the secret, closed place of night.

Nonverbal writing, writing that remains in silence, original truth. Writing becomes image, a manifestation of being, of being there, in the absolute without form. An open text. A text for all. For those who know how to read and those who do not know how to read. I shift the text from literature to the visual arts. Meanwhile, even in the world that surrounds us, images tend to replace words. Invasively. Television and advertising are just two examples.

Writing, place of perdition and discovery.”

Irma Blank, Milan, 2001

Gallery exhibitions

Selected works

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Irma Blank, Gehen, Second life M, 2018, marker on transparent paper, cm.35x25 (x5) (cm.35x125 overall)
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Irma Blank, Gehen, Second life H, 2018, red marker on transparent paper, double page, cm.29,5x42
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Irma Blank, Gehen, Second life, 4-1-2018, 2018, blue marker on transparent paper, double page, cm.29,5x42 (x3) (cm.29,5x126 overall)
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Irma Blank, Gehen, Second life n.7, 2018, marker on transparent paper, series of 2 double pages, cm.34,8x49,9 each (cm.34,8x99,8 overall)
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Irma Blank, Gehen, Second life B, aprile 2018, 2018, black marker on transparent paper, double page, cm.21x29,8
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Irma Blank, Global Writings, Verfügung vom 20 April ‘16, 2016, marker on glossy paper, 7 pages, cm.29,5x21
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Irma Blank, Global Writings, La lingua ritrovata, poesia minima, 15-3-04, 2004, digital writing and silkscreen printing on canvas, cm.20x34, unique
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Irma Blank, Global Writings, La lingua ritrovata, poesia minima, 6-3-04, 2016, digital writing and silkscreen printing on copper-coated aluminium, diptych, cm.30x51 each
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Irma Blank, Ur-schrift ovvero Avant-testo, 20-6-02, 2002, ballpoint pen on polyester on wooden stretcher, cm.46x36,5
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Irma Blank, Avant-testo II, 3-2-99, 1999, ballpoint pen on polyester, cm.23x23
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Irma Blank, Hyper-Text 6-2-98C, 1998, digital writing, screen print on canvas, cm.37,5x27, unique copy
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Irma Blank, Hyper-Text, 29-4-1998, 1998, digital writing, screen print on canvas, cm.185x120,5, unique copy
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Irma Blank, Ur-schrift ovvero Avant-testo B, 15-4-98, 1998, ballpoint pen on paper, cm.27x19
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Irma Blank, Ur-schrift ovvero Avant-testo, 7-3-98, 1998, ballpoint pen on paper, cm.28x19
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, Racconto a doppia pagina n.2, 1993, watercolor on paper, cm.30x40
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, Exercitium n.3, 1993, oil on card, cm.34,5x70
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, Exercitium, 15-12-92, 1992, acrylic on transparent paper, cm.28,5x28,5
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, One way, 1991, oil on transparent paper, 25 pages, cm.25x35 each (cm.25x875 overall)
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, One way, 1991, oil on transparent paper, cm.25x35
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, Exercitium, 1990, acrylic on card, cm.24,5x31
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, 25-11-89 II, 1989, acrylic on paper, cm.24x14
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, Schriftzug=Atemzug 25-8-89, 1989, oil on canvas, diptych, cm.50x40 each (cm.50x80 overall)
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, 15. Exercitium, 1989, acrylic on card, cm.24,9x32,8
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, Exercitium A, 1988, acrylic on paper, cm.17x23,5
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, Schriftzug=Atemzug, Übung am 25-6-88, 1988, acrylic on card, cm.38x56,5
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, Exercitium 20-2-88, 1988, oil on canvas, diptych, cm.40x40 each (cm.40x80 overall)
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Irma Blank, Radical Writings, Pagina Dal libro totale, gennaio 1985, 1985, watercolor on paper/acquerello su carta, cm.24x17
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Irma Blank, Radical writings, Il corpo del silenzio, 29-3-83, 1983, acrylic on canvas, cm.30x30
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Irma Blank, Autoritratto 5, 1981, mixed media on parchment paper, diptych, cm.21x14 cad/each (cm.21x28 totale/overall)
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Irma Blank, Trascrizioni, 1975, ink on parchment like paper, cm.30x21
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Irma Blank, Trascrizioni, Dichtung Version I, 1974, indian ink on parchment like paper, 7 pages cm.13x9,5 each (cm.13x66,5 overall)
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Irma Blank, Trascrizioni, Gedanken, 1974, Indian ink on parchment paper, 3 pages, cm.18x10,5 each (cm.18x31,5 overall)
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Irma Blank, Trascrizioni, Thinking IV, 1974, indian ink on parchment like paper, 49 pages cm.16,1x11,5 each (cm.112,7x80,5 overall)
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Irma Blank, Eigenschriften, Pagina A-31, 1970, pastel on paper, cm.70x50
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Irma Blank, Eigenschriften, 1969, pastel on paper, cm.50x70
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Irma Blank, Eigenschriften, 1969, ink on paper, cm.29,9x21