Transmission Print #213.1

1971–74

Not on view

Larson used a primitive version of the fax machine to transmit and receive images and text over telephone lines--a device that translated visual material into sound and then translated the audible signal back into visual terms. On the receiving end, Larson sent the same sheet of paper through a DEX Teleprinter numerous times to record various transmissions in a single montage image. He also introduced an abstract, conceptually based element by transmitting sounds--sometimes rock music, sometimes his verbal descriptions of the images--that the receiving machine rendered as visual marks, the scrambled results of its attempt to decipher a message sent in unrecognizable code. Chance, performance, conceptual art, and non-traditional media are all elements of Larson's art.

Artwork Details

Title: Transmission Print #213.1
Artist: William G. Larson (American, 1942–2019)
Date: 1971–74
Medium: Electro-carbon print
Dimensions: 27.9 x 21.7 cm. (11 x 8 9/16 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 1994
Object Number: 1994.521
Rights and Reproduction: © William G. Larson
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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