Page 61 - Studio International - March April 1975

1. From 'Imprint', John Stezaker, 1973-4;
third from a series of twelve sections
comprising the work.
"Imprint' is in its own terms an attempt
at a rhetorical articulation of connotative
(or ideological) images (in horizontal
variation and vertical opposition) which
provide the parameters for particular ways of
life and thought and whose interfaces
generate "problems". These are problems
taken from personal histories (from an
agony column) and are contraposed with
structurally related problems which
emanate from the form of the work ("The
problems of translation" — the work was
originally designed for German-English
publication but is presented in England with
crosses marking the position of translated
text). The changing rhetorical forms
parallel a kind of "problem hopping"
through the work which follows both the
stereotyped personal problems of
individual history from adolescence to old
age and the cliches of modern relativistic
philosophy. 'Imprint' as a symbolic
expression makes a plea for its own
salvation from the mire of relativism and
nihilism in rhetoric.' P.S.
131