The Ampersand
Sunday 10 August, 2008 The Ampersand 'I like the ampersand. I think it is often the most attractive character of them all. This blog is an attempt to give this humble ligature the respect it deserves.' This kind of cataloguing of language is taking place all over the net, take here as another example about the ampersand, as an instance. The proliferation of fonts is another instance of ongoing shifting concurrences that can breed remarkability. Things like colour and random typographical intrusions can now be produced with little to no effort, and should be employed as such. The traditional notion of thinking within the page now needs to move from where we are now, which is thinking without the page, to thinking without the undecorated letter, or the letter as it would be without decoration, and I mean that not in terms of prettiness or implication, but simply because it should be such as that.
'A small menagerie of new Damien Hirst pickled animals took a bow... including a new shark, a zebra, a calf with solid gold horns and hoofs valued at up to £12m, and even a unicorn - a white foal fitted with a resin horn, rather than an apparition from a fairytale.
All have been churned out by his small army of assistants this year for an auction at Sotheby's in September which will sell more than 200 pieces. The auction is predicted to raise £65m, comfortably setting a new world record for the artist, and blazing a trail which other artists will watch with interest, of bypassing the gallery and dealer system and going straight to auction.'
