THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270028
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
JUST INSIDE Virginia Beach Central Library, neon arcs and spirals in primary colors are visible from across the spacious open room.
Venture closer to the magazine racks, and the details in Ken Daley's ``Parataxis'' come into focus. The public sculpture, installed earlier this year, is practically a time capsule of information about the development of man as reflected in writing.
The huge glass-and-neon construction covers a large wall in the library. The piece itself is covered in more than 100 quotations, from the early Greek lyric poet Sappho to 20th century children's illustrator Maurice Sendak.
Sappho: ``Although they are only breath, words which I command are immortal.''
Sendak: ``We should let children choose their own books.''
To celebrate the new installation, a public reception, featuring remarks by the artist, is set for Friday evening at the library.
``I wanted to create a piece that was about libraries and books, reading and language, and I wanted to involve other people in it,'' said Daley, an art professor at Old Dominion University. Grants from private foundations associated with the library and ODU paid for the project.
Daley started work on the piece in 1991 by asking librarians and friends to pass along their favorite quotes about language and books.
These sound bites of substance were intended to remind patrons of the richness of our written heritage. The resulting work includes the sage words of Confucius and Robert Frost, Jorge Luis Borges and Alexander Pope. And a few people who aren't so famous, such as Ruth Anshen, an associate of Marshall McLuhan, who quoted her in his books.
Anshen, sister to the late Norfolk artist Fay Zetlin, said: ``Man is language.''
The quotations often sent Daley running to the original sources. Daley was intrigued by a quote from Elbert Hubbard: ``The library is the first of rooms.''
But who was this Hubbard? Daley looked him up, and learned he was a New York publisher and a well-known wit who was popular on the lecture circuit.
Finding sources is a familiar notion to John Stewart, assistant library director who set up the reception for ``Parataxis.''
``Our business is premised on recorded information,'' Stewart said. ``We organize information and make it accessible.
``For someone like myself to suddenly come across so many examples from prose, poetry and every age of writing - to include mathematics, writing in different languages and from different cultures - it was a feast.
``I go back to that piece of art periodically, as sort of a touchstone. I like being near it, and discovering yet another quotation I hadn't seen. Or a pattern.
``I use it personally, as a point of meditation almost.''
Parataxis'' reminded Stewart of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington. When seen from a distance, the work has a strong, compelling form. Up close, the experience becomes intimate, and tactile. A visitor might run fingertips over significant words etched onto the surface.
Neon is attached to the wall, with massive glass panes seeming to float in front of it. The glass has been sand-etched and screenprinted with quotes and drawings.
Daley came upon the title accidentally, in flipping through the dictionary. Parataxis is a literary term that refers to related clauses put together without connecting words, such as ``I came, I saw, I conquered.''
The word hooked into the structure of his piece, which is a collage of phrases.
Near the center of the work is a drawing of a labyrinth, a symbol found in many cultures and representing the individual's journey to slay the beast within, Daley said. ``But it is also about the levels of progression through life and consciousness and levels of meaning.''
Below the labyrinth is the Latin phrase: Littera Scripta Manet, which translates ``The Written Word Remains.''
The Latin phrase ``is what I feel. We're moving into a digital era where hyperspace and cyberspace are commonplace. Through any level of technology, the written word - albeit, print - will remain.
``People,'' Daley pronounced, ``will continue to read.''
Ironically, Daley's ``Parataxis'' will soon be available on World Wide Web through the Internet; his sister-in-law has made that a research project toward her master's degree in library science.
Within two weeks, ``Parataxis'' may be accessed electronically through this Web site address: http://www.uky.edu/artsource/ artsourcehome.html.
Still, here's a quote to shame non-readers of the old-fashioned book, from the lips of Barbara Tuchman:
``Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill.'' ILLUSTRATION: JUST THE FACTS
What: Public reception for ``Parataxis,'' a new sculpture at
Virginia Beach Central Library
Where: 4100 Virginia Beach Blvd.
When: 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday
How much: free
Call: 427-4321
by CNB