Essay by Joseph Keehn, Curator at Johnson County Library:
"Conceptually driven, seeking the vehicle to best drive the message, Adriane Herman sifts through the seemingly ordinary to mine the extraordinary. Herman’s projects have included various combinations of text and images to address consumerism, conventional norms, history and even love. With a touch of light heartedness and wit, her latest art production probes uncomfortable issues of personal and collective ways of communication with one of the oldest and recognizable forms: the note.
In the 2016 installation work Inhale/Ex-Hail (Love Is All Around), various personal notes ranging from a banana with a handwritten “Sweet Dreams” on its peel to a mobile screenshot of a soon-to-be-newlywed’s morning apology – overlap on a background of red, heart-shaped candies. Repeated as a wallpaper design on repositionable vinyl, the work is a continuation of Herman’s investigation of the reconfiguration of language and the temporality of the everyday.
Herman’s exploration of the facile nature of language and its various meanings and interpretations by both the reader and the writer are the underpinnings of much of the artist’s works. Even her title plays on this notion of polysemy and ties into the Library’s public program focus on “Love” this spring. Through the alteration and reconfiguration of words, the artist can alter the meaning of relationship; however, the meaning varies from viewer to viewer. After all, no two relationships – written or personal – are the same. The writing on this wall is proof.
Inhale/Ex-Hail (Love is All Around) was commissioned by Johnson County Library. A special thank you to Brian Reeves for assisting the artist in finessing the repeated candy hearts pattern used in the background."