A, E, I, O, BLUE
1992
Print, 45.8 x 152 cm.
Materials: print; ink on paper
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. M00320_16).
This print piece contains many of Ian Hamilton Finlay's hallmarks, including simplicity, the use of concrete poetry and a fondness for thoughtful witticism. It features a perfect rectangle composed of a single shade of blue with letters stencilled in white to provide contrast. A soft sans-serif typeface is used to reflect the overall playful quality of the image.
The piece is an example of Finlay's visual poetry - illustrating the artist's propensity for "concrete" poems - which utilise puns; arrangements of words and visual effects to create witty, thoughtful pieces combining philosophical ponderings with a lightness of touch. The image presents four letters and a word in sequence separated by commas, effectively forming five words phonetically in the viewer's mind. The initial letters are the first four vowels of the English alphabet (A, E, I and O), and the sequence is completed by the word "blue", which creates a rhyme on the phonetic pronunciation of the fifth and final vowel, "U", to complete the set. The audio pun is complemented by a visual pun, since the word "blue" contains the letter "U" and is connected to the background colour that predominates in this image.
