Crit (detail), 1991, sandblasted glass, frames, computer-generated output, signage, 10 elements in total, 5 frames 14” x 11” each, 5 signs 2” x 4” each.

“A particularly wonderful assault on the abuses of language by art critics is manifested in two 1991 projects by Brooks, Crit and Canon.  In these two pieces Brooks lampoons 17 separate instances, all drawn from the pages of major art magazines, of what he sees as especially egregious instances of the obfuscating tendencies of critspeak.  Brooks sandblasts the alleged offenses onto glass – Bernard Berenson's use of "aphasiac" in 1948, Rual Askew's 1962 description of "a borealis of meaning," Kathryn Hixson's catchy 1988 phrase "autoeroticism of communicative lack," and more – and above these places a computer generated voice print of the phrase or word in question read aloud.  (Brooks nailed me too, citing my 1989 description of an artist employing an "iconography of polyphony."  I plead guilty with an explanation.)”

Excerpt from an article entitled ‘Adam Brooks: Only Words’ in Glass magazine by James Yood, Spring 1995.