The Bible Project

Antique bibles with pen and ink, lino block prints on mulberry paper.

In a three-volume Bible, Wren transcribed Janson’s iconic text, History of Art in-between each line.  The script becomes an invisible narrative that is interwoven with the grand narrative of the Bible and the narrative of which Janson writes. The stories connect on three levels: personal, cultural, and spiritual. The quixotic attempt to make a visual representation of time is felt in the grit of Wren’s performance in the gallery space. The very act of writing creates a narrative with a beginning and an ending to the story of writing.  Each word written represents the time it took to write it.  In the text, History of Art, a code records the date, time, and the place in the Bible in which it is written.  By transcribing the text Wren translates the written word into a work of art about the aesthetic of duration, narrative, and performance.