Alphabet: An Exhibition of Hand-Drawn Lettering and Experimental Typography

Alphabets: An Exhibition of Hand-Drawn Lettering and Experimental Typography is a gallery show in which 51 artists and designers from around the worls were asked to re-interpret the alphabet."The alphabets in the exhibition reflect a range of thinking about letters that encompasses the conceptual, illustrative, typographic, and beyond. Some of the artists have created their alphabets from a variety of non-traditional media or found objects, while others render their forms with pen and ink in obsessive detail. By presenting each alphabet removed from the context of words and typography, we focus on these 26 shapes as forms unto themselves rather than just the building blocks of words."http://www.posttypography.com/alphabet/alphabet.html

This experimentation brought about some interesting and diverse results. I've been contemplating making an alphabet from found objects for this brief and the images from this gallery show serve as great inspiration.

ANDREW BYROM / INTERIORS / 2003
A set of 26 table and chair frames built from steel tubing, Interiors forms a lowercase alphabet when viewed from certain angles. While some of the letters such as the h, m, and b look like basic chairs or tables, others like the e, t, and x become abstract, rather than functional, furniture.
Fabrication: Joel Wolter

APIRAT INFAHSAENG / SEVEN BOARD OF CUNNING / 2004
Constructed with Chinese Tangram puzzle tiles, Seven Board of Cunning takes the concept of Tangrams--that the tiles may be arranged into a variety of shapes--and applies it to typography, creating multiple versions of each letter.

MICHAEL STOUT (VISUALINGUAL) / IMAGEABILITY, PATHS / 2002
Pushing the limits of legibility, Imageability is a series of five fonts based on ideas from the book of the same title by Kevin Lynch. By reducing each letter to a minimal set of forms, Imageability explores the identifiers we use to navigate our landscape and language.

NANCY GUIRAGOSSIAN / DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE / 2004
Using her camera to document letter-shaped elements in her surroundings, Guiragossian created her alphabet while wandering the streets of Montreal.

HJARTA SMARTA / SELECTED / 2002
Hjarta Smarta used a sewing machine to stitch the letters of Selected for a museum exhibition on Swedish crafts

REAGAN MARSHALL / BODY LANGUAGE / 2005
In the typographic ballet Body Language, a dancer contorts herself inside a specially-constructed spandex bag to create letters from the human form.
Performed by: Amy Oldham

photos and captions: http://www.posttypography.com/alphabet/gallery.html