In the series 27 rue de Fleurus, Angela Detanico and Rafael Lain developed and used the Cúbica [Cubic] alphabet to rewrite poems from the book Tender Buttons, by Gertrude Stein (1874-1946). The artists then applied the colour schema and dimensions based on paintings in the art collection of Stein, whose residence was located at 27, Rue de Fleurus, in Paris, on the works in this series.
Gertrude Stein’s prose arose, in the early 20th century, based on a dense dialogue with the cubism of Cézanne and Picasso – two of the artists who were most present in her collection. As critic James R. Mellow once wrote, “The Stein residence in Paris was a Mecca for the modern- minded. The principal attraction was the collection of Cézanne oils and watercolors, the early pictures by Matisse and Picasso, the paintings by Renoir, Manet, Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec, which she and Leo [her brother] had had the funds and the foresight to buy. The walls of their atelier were hung to the ceiling with now-famous paintings, the double doors of the dining room were lined with Picasso sketches. In the early decades of the century, hundreds of visitors flocked to the display of vanguard art: many came to scoff, but several went away converted. It was a brilliant scene – and a historic one. For all intents and purposes, Leo and Gertrude Stein had inaugurated, at 27 rue de Fleurus, the first museum of modern art.”
Angela Detanico and Rafal Lain have been developing a series of alphabets since the early 2000s, which take the hybridism between design and art they deal with in their production and ally this with traditions such as concrete poetry, which sought to give form to the word. This production also involves a game with contemporary art itself; as stated by critic and curator Lisette Lagnado: “what is not usually pedagogical is to stimulate the desire for the ‘act of deciphering’; it is to shift the traditional signifier/ signified relation; and, moreover, to offer a way to think about a reality for art in which the public’s (mental) participation is of greatest importance in order for the work not to founder in an empty and tautological way.”
In the series 27 rue de Fleurus, Angela Detanico and Rafael Lain developed and used the Cúbica [Cubic] alphabet to rewrite poems from the book Tender Buttons, by Gertrude Stein (1874-1946). The artists then applied the colour schema and dimensions based on paintings in the art collection of Stein, whose residence was located at 27, Rue de Fleurus, in Paris, on the works in this series.
Gertrude Stein’s prose arose, in the early 20th century, based on a dense dialogue with the cubism of Cézanne and Picasso – two of the artists who were most present in her collection. As critic James R. Mellow once wrote, “The Stein residence in Paris was a Mecca for the modern- minded. The principal attraction was the collection of Cézanne oils and watercolors, the early pictures by Matisse and Picasso, the paintings by Renoir, Manet, Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec, which she and Leo [her brother] had had the funds and the foresight to buy. The walls of their atelier were hung to the ceiling with now-famous paintings, the double doors of the dining room were lined with Picasso sketches. In the early decades of the century, hundreds of visitors flocked to the display of vanguard art: many came to scoff, but several went away converted. It was a brilliant scene – and a historic one. For all intents and purposes, Leo and Gertrude Stein had inaugurated, at 27 rue de Fleurus, the first museum of modern art.”
Angela Detanico and Rafal Lain have been developing a series of alphabets since the early 2000s, which take the hybridism between design and art they deal with in their production and ally this with traditions such as concrete poetry, which sought to give form to the word. This production also involves a game with contemporary art itself; as stated by critic and curator Lisette Lagnado: “what is not usually pedagogical is to stimulate the desire for the ‘act of deciphering’; it is to shift the traditional signifier/ signified relation; and, moreover, to offer a way to think about a reality for art in which the public’s (mental) participation is of greatest importance in order for the work not to founder in an empty and tautological way.”








