ABSTRACT
The language of art itself is not traditionally speaking verbal. The caveat is necessary as many art objects (classical sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, printed and illustrated books, and modern conceptual art - as with a relief from Imperial Rome or the works of Ian Hamilton Finlay or Richard Long) may include verbal inscription as an essential ingredient. The relationship between words and images is extremely complex, partly for cultural reasons (we use words to communicate about imagery), partly because the outline shape of, say, a tow-away vehicle which is strictly speaking an icon or image can function in the place of a series of words ('If you ignore the parking restrictions in this area your car will be towed away!') (Figure 17), and partly because a letter or word is also a shape and may function as part of a composition of different shapes as well as a signifier to which is attached a particular concept. Thus the word JUG inscribed within an image field may work as three varied and related curving vertical forms and at the same time it may trigger for the literate viewer the concept of a container for liquids.
