*Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson (1995) is a collection of paintings! The only text is an introduction. “Building Alphabet City required self-imposed guidelines. All letters had to be capital letters, found in their natural positions, out-of-doors or in public spaces such as the subway, readily accessible to anyone who looks carefully at our urban world at various times of day, and during the cycle of seasons. There are not right or wrong solutions to finding letters in a city, only pleasurable ones.” Johnson painted images in which he perceived capital letters of English. There are no identifying marks in the paintings that highlight the letters Johnson perceives. The painting of a fire escape on the side of a building does not have a brightly colored red overlay of the letter Z. No text directs our attention. Johnson thus demands that we discover the letters ourselves! What a delightful exercise!
