DNA Etching I

Within the strongly geometric composition lies printed and handwritten names and numbers from Binion’s address book as well as text from his birth certificate. In a published interview, Binion explained his use of these text elements: “I call it my phonebook….In the early 1970s, you only communicated three ways: eye-to-eye, telephone, or the United States mail. I was a full-time painter in New York without a teaching job. I sold work on my own. Everybody you know would be in your address book, because it was the source. That’s how I started these paintings….And they were based on my phone book. Between my phonebook and my birth certificate, that’s my entire life. That’s what we got.”