Joel Swanson

Bataille’s “Story of the Eye” with Nouns and Pronouns Redacted, 2011
found text, gold foil / variable dimensions

This work investigates the relationship between sacred objects and gold as a material signifier. George Bataille’s provocative text “The Story of the Eye” conceptually explores the connection between the sacred and the profane in the context of materiality. The artists’s redaction of nouns with gold foil, juxtaposes practices of censorship to the tradition of illuminated manuscripts as sacred objects.

Bataille’s “Story of the Eye” with Nouns and Pronouns Redacted
Bataille’s “Story of the Eye” with Nouns and Pronouns Redacted
Bataille’s “Story of the Eye” with Nouns and Pronouns Redacted
Bataille’s “Story of the Eye” with Nouns and Pronouns Redacted
Bataille’s “Story of the Eye” with Nouns and Pronouns Redacted