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Joseph Grigely
Fireside Talk, 1999
Fiberglass and polyurethane with text
31 1/2 x 53 1/4 x 13 7/8 inches
Gift of the Curator's Circle

Joseph Grigely creates works that explore the failures, idiosyncrasies, and ruptures of language and communication. Deaf since age ten, he often communicates with the hearing world by asking people to write down their end of a conversation. The scraps of papers containing these conversation fragments become central to many of his sculptures and installation. In Fireside Talk #2 Grigely presents a grouping of handwritten conversations, mounted in white frames and arranged on a fiberglass cast of a mantelpiece. Like a group of photographic portraits, these conversation fragments serve as stand-ins for individuals, recalling an arrangement of family photos or a group of friends talking in front of a fireplace.