Allyson Strafella

Strafella began using a typewriter as a way to record her thoughts and ideas, but she quickly realized its potential as a drawing medium. She has written, "The more I typed the more the letters and words on the pages began to take on a new function, slowly transforming into a new language ... made from patterns and grids I formed by punctuation marks." Strafella eventually created a custom typewriter comprising twenty-nine unique metal stamps. This drawing dates from the early years of her experiments with typewriter on standard letter-size paper and underscores the myriad latent formal possibilities that she uncovered in her mechanical medium.