Raffaella della Olga: Typescripts

For the past decade, Raffaella della Olga has made unique artist’s books using modified typewriters and multicolor ink ribbons on a range of materials—from tracing paper to photo paper to sandpaper. Della Olga (b. 1967, Italy; lives and works in France) worked briefly as an attorney before becoming an artist; now, seeking refuge from the limitations of language, she grinds down the characters on her machines and communicates through form, color, texture, and rhythm. Della Olga plays her typewriters like instruments, following a script in some cases and improvising freely in others.

Each of della Olga’s artist’s books explores a different conceptual or technical idea and is titled with a sequential number preceded by the letter “T.” This stands for tapuscrit, French for “typescript,” a now uncommon term for an author’s original typewritten text. Like that word, della Olga’s work joins the mechanical with the manual, expressing gesture through the machine. She drags and smears her ink ribbons and inserts textiles into the typewriter carriage, conveying their texture as text. Weaving and typewriting are linked by the up-down, side-to-side directionality of the grid—a structure that della Olga both studies and subverts.

This exhibition, della Olga’s first solo museum show, presents her artists’ books alongside her typed paintings and cut-fabric works. Her work is accompanied by rare and artist’s books from the Clark library, spanning the late nineteenth century to the present, which reflect the typewriter’s still-vivid potential as a creative tool.

Raffaella della Olga: Typescripts is organized by the Clark Art Institute and curated by Robert Wiesenberger, curator of contemporary projects.

Major funding for Raffaella della Olga: Typescripts is provided by the Edward and Maureen Fennessy Bousa Fund for Contemporary Projects and Dena M. Hardymon, with additional support from Katherine and Frank Martucci. Generous support for the catalogue is provided by Michael Alper and Bruce Moore, with additional support from Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip Aarons.