As a writer, I naturally have an affinity for the written word and correspondingly, an affinity for artists who can manipulate words in ways I find captivating and inspiring, and worthy of "copying." While I have not created a multitude of artworks based off the concepts that form others' works, I do keep these ideas and nuances etched in the back of my mind when I am in the process of creating. They also attract me to other artists who create in similar fashions but with their own brands, and therefore allow me to build a hearty, mental reference book that I can "flip through" when I need inspiration on how better to use words. Jenny Holzer worked specifically with words and, to me, has one of the powerful commands of the aestheticized written word. I have “copied” her artworks many a time while in the process of creating my own artistic brand. Holzer’s Truisms and Inflammatory Essays featured hundreds of one-liners and blocks of capitalized text telling stories, poetry, and giving advice or warnings on colored templates respectively. The aesthetics of her works inspire me as well; her works were often displayed in public on neon signs, billboards, and bright projections, inconspicuous places for text such as “PROTECT ME FROM WHAT I WANT” and “it is in your self-interest to find a way to be very tender.” The Truisms “turn soft and lovely anytime you have a chance” and “in a dream you saw a way to survive and you were full of joy,” guide my daily thoughts and actions, and in a few years I will decide which to have tattooed; of all the thousands of templates that have been a backdrop for Holzer’s words, I think my skin would be my favorite.

          La Dispute, a post-hardcore band, also weaves words adeptly, different than Holzer in technique but just as influential on my art style. Many their songs are “spoken” rather than sung, and their lyrics follow the stream-of-consciousness method of storytelling for each of the themes of their albums. The vocalist Jordan Dreyer sings harsh and raw to match each story, and most of their songs read like a thick block of text detailing a long-withheld confession that burst out in a single moment. The lyrics are sprawling and immersive, and evoke an almost terrifying amount of empathy since every detail, emotion, twitch of a finger, and breeze of the wind is emphasized in the songs. The songs “ramble” while making perfect sense, and I am learning to imitate this quality while steeping my thoughts in their album track lists.

          While writing hair, I picked the first topic that came to mind and reminded myself to ramble, and just keep writing until it stopped making sense, or started making more and then I would write again. I placed it on a ruddy background to match aesthetics with the message of my words, since the last color I mention is "pink...[layered with] honey brown." I blended together Holzer's aesthetic presentation of words with the substance and storytelling of La Dispute. Another older work I created that I see I copied from the two artists was a note I found in my phone. I tend to vent and ramble on the Notes app and I picked this specific one out of the many since there is a recurring, intelligible theme, "those nights" I usually have. I decided to keep the work in the form of a screenshot rather then copying onto a Word document because I really enjoy the electronic aesthetic as a template for words, something I adapted from Holzer.