By replacing the ink ribbon with paint blocks on an antique typewriter, artist Tyree Callahan has created a new conceptual instrument (it’s mechanics don’t allow it to actually paint) in which the notions of paint and words converge. Initially started as an experiment to apply watercolor text to a work in progress, the project grew to the resulting object, aptly named the chromatic typewriter. As far as technicalities, the artist states “I also tried to incorporate things that would offer a significant suspension of disbelief to the piece. The ribbon, for one. At the moment, it is a slice of a stellar spectrum analysis of our sun. An homage to the one thing that really makes art what it is in the universe: light. The keyboard’s spacebar also incorporates the idea of ‘negative space.'” View more images of the manipulated typewriter below.
