Geof Huth
Geof Huth
has become one of the most prominent visual poets working today, in large part because of his widely read blog, dbqp: visualizing poetics. In this venue, one can find not only new works by him and other contemporary visual poets, but short essays, talks, and reflections on the field of vispo. The thoughtfulness of his prose writing
corresponds with the
high level of deliberateness
evident in much of his visual poetry. Though not always orderly, most of these works show themselves to be organized around an individual, self-contained visual idea.
Typography is a central feature of Huth's work. Even in pieces made up of handwriting one finds meticulous attention to the variation of letter shapes. Much of his work also exhibits an interest in the disassembly and recombination of letters. This is often carried out through processes of clumping and conjoinment. The end result is not distortion, but re-constitution.
Huth's vispo is also fairly tolerant of open space within the visual field of an individual piece. Rather than being "empty," these areas contribute to the effect of the composition. Length, width, and dimensional relationships show themselves as intentional considerations. Similarly, there is a strong emphasis on shapeliness. Often shape becomes honed to such a high degree that conventional readability disappears.
Compared to other visual poets, Huth's work tends more towards minimalism in composition, though not exclusively so. The flexing, morphing, re-combinatory movement of letters in Huth's vispo reminds us of just how much can happen before a word ever arrives on the scene.
(Jump to Huth links on the resources page.)