October 15 through November 15, 2005

In his series of screenprints, "Tattoo: Text in the City," David Thompson explores the ways in which we "read" urban life, looking at the wide variety of texts that make up the narrative of our streets. In his vibrant images of everyday cityscapes, from New York and Los Angeles to Paris and Tokyo, he invites us to absorb the messages that are as much a part of city life as bricks and mortar: the assertive, optimistic signage of every commercial avenue; the competitive, aggressive blare of advertisements, large and small; the antinomian private communications of taggers; the pragmatic communicative symbols that surround us, from street signs to banners -- texts that we often ignore, but that are an essential part of the urban fabric, of what makes a city a city.

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