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Hacking the Library
WVU Libraries Art in the Libraries

Matthew Conboy

These two prints... take Shakespeare folios that are related to those in ... the West Virginia and Regional History Center as sources of  inspiration . I used two of  my favorite sonnets (18 and 98) as source material and then employed a random character shuffler to rearrange the individual sonnets in what is quite an unorthodox strategy for  investigating the written word. I then used these arrangements to define new paint brushes in  Adobe Photoshop and created dense fields of text and characters which were further  manipulated through blending modes, layer styles, and warp transformations.
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For me, this piece evokes awe where so little source material (just two sonnets) are employed to achieve so much texture and layering. Library collections themselves are limited in scope, yet so very overwhelming. So many words in so many books among so many shelves across so many institutions. Yet even all those collections can't possibly record the richness of the human experience.

Catherine Fonseca

Social Sciences Librarian, WVU Libraries

The print is almost an ironic and contradictory presentation of Shakespeare's original sonnets, which strictly follows the pattern of three quatrains and a couplet. The distortion of the words plus the layered and dark background makes it confusing to viewers. Reads Shakespeare: "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see" -- Sonnet 18; "That heavy Saturn laugh’d and leap’d with him" -- Sonnet 98.

Xiping Liu

Librarian, Texas

There is a swirling depth to this piece inspired by the Shakespeare folios. It reminds me that words and creative works travel through time and space, weaving in and out - as Shakespeare's works have. Is it molecular, sub-atomic, cosmic? Libraries are central to preserving and providing access to these works over time and space.

Tracy Grimm

Associate Dean of Special Collections, WVU Libraries