Yes: a poetic experience artwork

Yes: an artwork by Stephen Black that ombines letterpress, fine paper, and a 3D digital sculpture, which appears after scanning a QR code. It includes music by New Orleans clarinetist Sidney Bechet, and references a poem by the British poet Philip Larkin.

Artist’s Statement

Words and letters have always touched my life. As a boy, I made mazes and forts in the boxes of books my father, a book salesman, stored in our garage. Growing up, I read constantly. In New York, in the 80s, I was fortunate to learn from Arleen Schloss, an “alphabet artist” better known as A. In the 90s, in Tokyo, I did an art installation about the letter W, filling a tiny room with wine, women and wool. I’ve written and published books, including one by the poet Tyler Dempsey. Having lived most of my life in Asia, the idea of language itself has always shaped and reshaped my perceptions.

https://www.artofarleenschloss.com/

2006: a cab ride down the Bowery, with the Empire State Building in the distance; a needle dividing the windshield. I slowly realize that, on the radio, a poem is being read. My ears focus. One phrase becomes sharp: “your love falls upon me like an enormous yes”.

I think of a poet in Singapore.

2026 I am working with spatial computing, AR. Augmented Reality. The ability to make art, especially digital sculptures, is a thrilling collection of new questions. The first question always centers around the idea of “space”. How to add meaning to something so wondrous? The space between your fingers extends to the rings of Saturn and beyond!

It was a Eureka moment when I remembered “an enormous yes”. Researching, I learned that the phrase is from Philip Larkin’s poem entitled ‘For Sidney Bechet’. Sidney was a soloist, on the clarinet. Featured in Yes is Blue Horizon, a composition by Sidney. Its title is perfect for use in a spatial computing artwork. The song is a rich, dark, warm portrait of New Orleans.

This video is not Blue Horizon, but because it is July….

In Yes, the interactions between the words, the music and the background were calculated with AI, then rebuilt by hand by Lynn Zeng. The inked document that is the target for the AR/QR was crafted by Sven Olaf Nelson.

Although I have my own associations with Yes, it is universal; meant to be a symbol for all that is positive.Yes is a phygital artwork, the simple richness of letterpress on paper with a gateway to a musical digital sculpture. Yes is a short trip to the birthplace of jazz, jazz being the shifting, surprising sound of inner conflicts swirling against inner peace.

Stephen Black

Toledo, Ohio

July 14, 2026

Yes: a poetic AR experience by Stephen Black

Technical support: Lynn Zeng

Letter press by Sven Olaf Nelson

AR support by Immersal and Mattercraft

Edition of 100

Dimension approximately 8 x 11 inches

Paper: now testing Beckett Embossed Enhance Silk Arctic White 80 lb

Stephen Black Bio

Born in Toledo Ohio. Lived in Los Angeles, Rochester, NY, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Paris, Tokyo, Bali, Singapore and Hong Kong. BFA in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology, Masters from School of Hard Knocks. Employed by CNN, Fox, Cartoon Network, MTV, Fuji TV, Annie Liebovitz, Kazuo Ono, Time, People, Esquire, Playboy and France 2. Received inspiration from Kazuko Masui, Kazuo Ono, Stelarc, Arleen Schloss and Ferran Andria. Most visible IRL project: Office Orchitect ,a collaboration with Michael Lee for the 2011 Singapore Biennale. Most viewed online project:Kiss, a digital online film collaboration with Kumiko Akiyoshi. Artworks in the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Columbia University, Rochester Institute of Technology and private collections worldwide.

Authored a number of books including I ate tiong bahru, The Agaricus Blazei Murrill Notebook, Bubiko T3, Bali Wave Ghost and Furikake. Published Newspaper Drumsticks by Tyler Dempsey