Alicia Herbst’s installation of canvases entitled “text me back” allows us to glimpse the present.  By taking an ephemeral form of communication, ‘texting’, and making it concrete Herbst provides us with a moment to consider how rapidly and radically the written word is being manipulated in conjunction with new technology.

The examination of these smallest of electrical abbreviations is at once a timely investigation into what Herbst calls “silent visual chatter” but also an astute acknowledgment that ‘texting’ is only the most recent chapter in our long history of communicating with one another. It is also fun.

Alicia Herbst is an artist whose work is not dictated by a desire to impress us but rather is derived from quiet and insightful observation.  It is refreshing to witness artwork that is not held captive by tradition and that has the ability to stimulate conversation about technology and human nature.