Nic Wilson's Dont Tread On Me

Nic Wilson’s print Dont Treat On Me is a (20’’X28’’) three-layer screen print. It consists of white text on a red ground, which reads DONT TREAD ON ME, and eventually disintegrates into clouds of static, patterned texture. The text appears again closer to the bottom of the page, around the point where the red layer intersects a blue checkerboard patterned plane, placed in perspective. The entire page is bordered with a black and white pattern that resembles QR barcodes or a pattern from the inside of security envelopes. The tabbed white edge between the bottom of the checker-board and the bottom section of the border further suggest an envelope, or an encasement. Finally, there is an image of a compact disc that has been [digitally] rendered into a bitmapped image (value gradation established by density of small dots) and distorted into an amebic blue form near the top of the composition.

The most primary visual/formal part of the work is pattern. The abstract, non-representational forms whose patterned arrangements render legible forms (in the case of the checkerboard and the CD) are placed in direct contrast with bold text, which conveys meaning abstractly (through language) rather than representationally/pictorially. These components are juxtaposed, however, they are both pertinent forms, patterns and marks that convey and reference external meanings, either as visual icons or textual phrases.

There are obvious aesthetic, practical and conceptual connections to make between this piece and ‘net.art’. This connects the piece to digital culture, which here, is visually denoted by seemingly generic stock images (like the CD and checkerboard), rendering techniques, patterns and textures. In referencing and simultaneously alienating the viewer from digital modes of expression, both textually and visually, the print speaks to the intricacy of common, familiar terms, phrases, and ideologies.

“Dont tread on me” is sourced from a flag that originates from the American Revolutionary War and which is traditionally associated with the US Navy. Since, the phrase has become important to the contemporary “Tea Party movement”. This conceptual, ideological and political can of worms is reflected in the experience of attempting to “read” the print and its content. The text is repeated in a pattern that is in one moment legible, and in another totally alien. Each word in the phrase “dont tread on me” is repeated on horizontal lines. If you read the text line by line, it would read, “dont dont dont, tread tread tread tread” etc. But the eye intuitively reads the full phrase in the blocks of text where the sentence is in the right order. In fact, I read “Dont Tread On Me” first, and only later realized the way the text was organized. This reflects the seeming contradiction between the familiarity of this phrase and its multiple applications and interpretations. The sensation of the visual switch (from reading the full phrase to noticing its repetitive placement along horizontal lines) is alienating and disorienting. Combined with the ideological baggage of the phrase, there is a strong suggestion of ambiguity and complexity in its content and meaning, both within this piece and in general. This use of loaded linguistic terms and contrasting formal elements is somewhat reminiscent of Mel Bochner's use of textual content. Legible, comprehensible and meaningful words and phrases take on an ambiguous form in visual art. There is a tension between terms that hold many meanings and terms that become meaningless.

- Dani R