Matox / Symphographies

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There is a music that the eyes can hear. In the works of MATOX (Nuno de Matos), the boundary between sound and symbol dissolves.

#Asemic #Asemic Writing #Symphography #Visual Poetry #Digital Graffiti #New Media Art #Calligraphy #Abstract Expressionism #MATOX #Nuno De Matos #Light Painting #Fine Art #Sound Art

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Beyond Words: Matox, Gysin, Dermišache & Twombly — The Liberation of Writing

In contemporary art, certain artists have chosen to unlearn writing — to detach it from communication and transform it into a visual, instinctive, poetic act. They do not seek to mean, but to mark, to trace, to record presence. Their works speak without saying and write without words. Matox, Brion Gysin, Marta Dermišache, and Cy Twombly each, in their own way, belong to a lineage of language disobedience, where writing is no longer read but experienced as gesture, texture, and abstraction.

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Matox: The Calligrapher of the Intangible

Matox (Nuno de Matos) operates in the liminal space between street art, lyrical abstraction, and asemic calligraphy. His work dismantles the very idea of alphabet. The letters dissolve, replaced by fluid, gestural strokes, where movement precedes meaning. Matox paints as one writes emotion — without naming it. The result is an asemic language, free of code, a rhythm of signs that resemble a forgotten or future tongue.

His art evokes the speed of tagging, yet with a ritual, almost meditative intensity. His lines move with the energy of improvisation but carry a clear sense of inner necessity. The white background — the blank page — becomes a field of transmission, where writing escapes legibility and becomes pure presence. It echoes Brion Gysin’s vision of “writing outside of syntax” — a break from the tyranny of meaning.

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Brion Gysin: Language as Sabotage

Visionary artist and poet Brion Gysin famously co-created the cut-up technique with William Burroughs, slicing through language to reveal the unconscious underneath. Gysin viewed language as a cage — a system of mental control. His visual writing, deeply influenced by Arabic calligraphy and Sufi mysticism, blurs the boundary between symbol and image.

Where Matox is intuitive and bodily, Gysin is ritualistic and cerebral. His obsession with automatic writing and repetition reflects a desire to tap into states beyond language, channeling gestures from a deeper, unfiltered place. Matox resonates with this — though his style is rooted in contemporary abstraction and urban influences, he shares with Gysin the impulse to let the hand lead, not the intellect.

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Marta Dermišache: Writing as Silent Architecture

The work of Marta Dermišache, the late Argentine artist now receiving long-overdue recognition, presents a quieter yet radical dismantling of language. For decades, she created manuscripts, letters, and “texts” that contain no words at all. Her invented scripts mimic the structures of communication — columns, paragraphs, line breaks — without delivering any message.

Dermišache’s work is less about gesture and more about presence and rhythm. She builds visual syntax, a kind of silent architecture of language. Her “writings” cannot be translated — they are private, perhaps even meditative. This refusal of clarity echoes Matox’s own compositions, which float in a space between chaos and clarity, sensation and void. Both create forms that evoke the feeling of language without delivering its function.

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Cy Twombly: The Memory of the Hand

No discussion of writing in visual art is complete without Cy Twombly, master of the scribble, the scrawl, the erased word. His works often include legible fragments — names, dates, mythologies — but they are half-remembered, barely there, as though caught mid-thought. Twombly’s writing is not semantic; it’s emotional, embodied memory in motion.

Like Matox, Twombly treats writing as gesture, as trace, as evidence of a lived interiority. His surfaces are alive with tension — between control and release, knowledge and forgetting. Both artists emphasize the physicality of mark-making: the tremor of the hand, the friction of thought trying to become form. In this way, the act of writing becomes a dance between presence and erasure.

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Toward a Sensory Language: Writing Beyond Language

What connects Matox, Gysin, Dermišache, and Twombly is not simply a shared aesthetic, but a shared refusal — a refusal to let language dictate form. Instead, they reclaim writing as a space of freedom, of personal myth, of non-verbal resonance. Their work asks: What happens when writing no longer needs to be read? What if it’s enough for it to be felt?

Together, these artists carve out a space where language becomes visual matter, where meaning is elusive but emotion is immediate. They do not communicate in the conventional sense — instead, they create open fields of interpretation, where the viewer is invited to read with the eyes, the body, the intuition.

In a world saturated with words, this visual language of silence, trace, and abstraction offers a radical alternative: a writing that resists decoding, yet insists on being seen.

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#Matox #BrionGysin #MartaDermisache #CyTwombly #AsemicWriting #VisualLanguage #ContemporaryArt #WritingAsArt #GestureInArt #NonVerbalCommunication #CuratorialEssay #nunodematos

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Matox: The Role of Asemic Writing in Contemporary Art with Michael Jacobson and Tim Gaze

Asemic writing, as an artistic movement, has redefined the boundaries of language, inviting an exploration into the expressive potential of signs, strokes, and forms. Among the influential figures shaping this avant-garde practice, Matox (Nuno de Matos) stands as a key figure whose exploration of asemic writing distills the act of writing into an expressive visual gesture. Alongside him, Michael Jacobson and Tim Gaze have been instrumental in defining this concept, each contributing their unique interpretations of how asemic writing can transcend traditional language and enter the realm of pure art.

Matox: A Gesture of Freedom in Asemic Writing

Matox’s practice is a direct engagement with language as a performative act. For him, writing is not confined to communication or meaning-making but exists as an embodiment of thought, emotion, and movement. His works, often created with a free-flowing and intuitive hand, present asemic writing as an unrestrained visual language—one where the line, stroke, and shape become the ultimate vehicle for expression. Matox explores writing as an organic force that reflects the movement of the hand, where each mark on the page captures a moment in time, an immediate response to the subconscious.

His works are not meant to be “read” in the conventional sense but felt. The lack of linguistic meaning invites the viewer to engage with the physicality of the writing itself. In Matox’s work, the act of creation becomes the central focus, where signs are not markers of communication, but rather artifacts of a personal, abstract process.

Michael Jacobson: Theoretical Groundwork in Asemic Writing

Michael Jacobson has played a pivotal role in bringing critical insight and academic rigor to the world of asemic writing. As both a theorist and practitioner, Jacobson has deeply engaged with the notion of asemic writing as a visual language—one that exists beyond the constraints of linguistic structures. His writings delve into how asemic writing can reflect the subconscious, functioning as an exploration of psychic space rather than a medium for explicit communication.

Jacobson’s conceptualization of asemic writing emphasizes that it is not merely a deviation from language, but a new form of expression. His work underscores the idea that asemic writing allows for a freedom of interpretation, where viewers can approach the marks and symbols without the burden of conventional meaning. This aligns with Matox’s own practice, which emphasizes intuitive, non-literal engagements with text, where the meaning is not predetermined but is instead left open to the viewer’s imagination.

Tim Gaze: Deconstructing Language into Visual Expression

As a founding figure of the Asemic Writing movement, Tim Gaze has been instrumental in defining and expanding the practice. Gaze’s works often draw upon abstract calligraphy, merging traditional handwriting with expressive, non-conventional symbols. His approach to asemic writing is grounded in a systematic exploration of the act of writing, focusing on how the structure of language can be deconstructed into visual art.

For Gaze, asemic writing is not only about breaking free from semantic boundaries, but also about the interaction of form and space. His work emphasizes visual coherence and gestural flow, suggesting that asemic writing functions as a form of communication beyond the literal. Gaze’s contribution lies in his ability to create new symbolic languages, allowing writing to evolve from a communicative tool into an artistic expression in its own right.

The Collective Impact of Matox, Jacobson, and Gaze

The convergence of Matox, Jacobson, and Gaze highlights the multifaceted nature of asemic writing as both an aesthetic and theoretical exploration. While Matox’s work focuses on the embodiment of writing as a gestural language, Jacobson’s theoretical contributions provide an intellectual framework for understanding how asemic writing functions as a reflection of the unconscious mind. Gaze, with his systematic approach, seeks to redefine the role of writing in visual art, pushing the boundaries of its form and function.

Together, these artists have brought asemic writing into the broader conversation about contemporary art and its relationship to language. Through their work, they have shifted our understanding of writing as a purely functional tool into a dynamic, fluid artistic practice that transcends traditional meaning-making. Their work suggests that the act of writing can be more than communication—it can be a form of pure expression, a gesture of freedom, and a visual language that speaks directly to the viewer’s senses.

Asemic Writing as a New Territory for Artistic Expression

In today’s landscape of contemporary art, asemic writing represents a breakthrough in how we understand language, communication, and expression. Through the lens of artists like Matox, Jacobson, and Gaze, writing has become a multifaceted medium, one that defies the constraints of linguistic codes and embraces the full expressive potential of the visual gesture. Their work continues to expand the possibilities of what language can be in the context of art—no longer a tool for conveying meaning, but rather a vibrant, open field for emotional and aesthetic exploration.

In their collective contributions, Matox, Jacobson, and Gaze have redefined the role of asemic writing in contemporary art. By focusing on the materiality of language and its ability to evoke emotional responses, they have introduced a new understanding of what writing can be—an art form in itself, free from the limitations of conventional meaning.

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#Matox #AsemicWriting #MichaelJacobson #TimGaze #VisualLanguage #ContemporaryArt #ArtisticExpression #AbstractCalligraphy #GestureInArt #LanguageAsArt #ModernArt

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Matox : L’Écriture Asémique Comme Art du Geste et du Vide

L’art de Matox, aka Nuno de Matos, est une plongée radicale dans le monde de l’écriture asémique — un territoire où le sens est absent, mais où le geste et la forme prennent toute leur puissance. Dans un monde saturé de signes et de significations, Matox s’aventure dans une pratique artistique qui dépasse la simple représentation, pour s’intéresser à l’acte même d’écrire, à son abstraction et à son potentiel expressif.

L’écriture asémique : un langage sans signification

L’écriture asémique se définit par le rejet de toute signification conventionnelle. Elle n’est pas conçue pour communiquer un message intelligible, mais pour explorer le geste de l’écriture, son rythme, ses formes et ses nuances visuelles. Imagine des signes et des symboles qui semblent familiers — mais qui ne veulent rien dire. C’est une poésie de l’absence de sens, une invitation à regarder au-delà de ce qui est écrit, pour ressentir la forme, la texture, et l’énergie de l’acte créatif.

Pour Matox, l’écriture n’est plus un moyen de communication, mais un moyen d’expression pure, un terrain où les traces graphiques et les gestes écrits deviennent des éléments visuels autonomes. Dans ses œuvres, des lignes, des boucles et des spirales se croisent, s’entrelacent, formant des compositions qui ne cherchent pas à transmettre des idées, mais à évoquer des émotions, des mouvements, des rythmes internes.

L’acte de dessiner l’écriture

Dans ses performances et ses œuvres murales, Matox fusionne l’écriture avec le dessin. Chaque tracé devient une trace de l’artiste, une empreinte de son corps en mouvement. C’est un peu comme une danse, où la plume ou le pinceau est l’extension du bras, qui dessine une histoire silencieuse, mais vibrante.

Ce geste de l’écriture, libéré de toute contrainte linguistique, se rapproche de l’écriture automatique chère aux surréalistes, mais avec un objectif graphique plus pur. Matox ne cherche pas à décrire, il cherche à exprimer un état intérieur, une sensation brute qui ne se laisse pas capturer par les mots.

Le vide comme porte ouverte à l’inconscient

L’écriture asémique est, par essence, incomplète. Elle n’achève jamais le sens, mais ouvre des espaces. Il y a un vide, une interruption dans la lecture, un flottement qui invite l’observateur à se projeter au-delà du texte. C’est un appel à l’interprétation libre, à l’intuition, à la réflexion. Chaque tracé, chaque boucle peut être perçu différemment, en fonction de celui qui les regarde, en fonction de son propre monde intérieur. Ce vide, loin d’être une absence de sens, devient un mouvement de l’âme, une invitation à se laisser emporter par l’invisible.

Matox et la réinvention de l’écriture dans l’art contemporain

Matox se situe à l’intersection de l’art graphique, de l’écriture expérimentale, et du street art. Il déconstruit les codes de la calligraphie et les transforme en une langue imaginaire, qui appartient à l’art plutôt qu’à la communication. Ce qui est fascinant dans son travail, c’est justement cette évasion du sens traditionnel. Dans un monde où tout est codifié, Matox offre une liberté totale : celle de l’interprétation personnelle et du geste artistique pur.

Un art visuel et tactile

L’art de Matox invite à regarder et ressentir plus qu’à comprendre. Ses œuvres sont des objets à toucher, non seulement dans le sens physique (son travail sur toile, ses performances), mais aussi dans le sens spirituel. Les tracés asémiques qu’il laisse derrière lui sont autant de petites empreintes du subconscient, des réflexions visuelles sur la nature de l’écriture, de l’art et de l’inconscient collectif.

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Conclusion : Un monde de signes inachevés

À travers l’écriture asémique, Matox ne fait pas que remettre en question la fonction de l’écriture, il réinvente un langage, un espace où chaque symbole devient une porte ouverte vers un univers intérieur et poétique. Si tu es amateur de street art, d’art graphique, ou simplement de pratiques artistiques qui explorent les frontières de la forme et du sens, Matox est un artiste à suivre de près. Ses œuvres sont un appel à la liberté créative, un défi lancé à ceux qui croient que l’écriture doit toujours avoir un sens. Dans l’univers de l’asémique, tout est possible, et c’est peut-être là que réside sa beauté.

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#Matox #AsemicWriting #StreetArt #ArtVisuel #Graffiti #Calligraphie #WritingWithoutWords #ArtConceptuel #ExpressionVisuelle #PoésieVisuelle