Deaf since the age of ten, Joseph Grigely essentially focuses on the art of conversation, exploring issues of communication and language. Blueberry Surprise consists of one continuous text of 45000 words, written by those to whom the artist spoke. Each change of color (red, orange and black) signifies the switch to "a new voice talking", always unknown characters.

The art of Joseph Grigely (born in 1956 in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, U.S.A.) is essentially focused on the art of conversation. Questions such as « What does a conversation look like? » or « How to figure a speech? » are present throughout his work. It is shown literally in his Conversation Pieces installations, referring to a specific genre of painting practiced by William Hogarth and Thomas Gainsborough or Canaletto which depict characters engaged in conversation. Grigely constantly explores issues of communication and language. Before becoming an artist, Joseph Grigely taught literature and critical theory, and continues to do so in the Visual and Critical Studies program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has published several critical theoretical texts (e.g., Textualterity : Art, Theory and Textual Criticism in 1995). As an artist, he explores multifaceted aspects of spoken and written phenomena. Moreover, conversation takes on particular significance for the artist, who lost his hearing at the age of ten. Grigely actually uses writing in order to communicate, when unable to read lips or in doubt. He asks people to write down what they want to say and thus exchanges scraps of paper, producing written conversations in this way. Grigely keeps this « daily life » material, building walls with them, creating installations and now, publishing a book.

Blueberry Surprise consists of one continuous text of 45,000 words transcribed from the written conversations that Joseph Grigely has been collecting over the last ten years. The transcription has kept the features of the handmade inscriptions, including punctuation and casts, while skipping all of the drawings which might have been included on the papers. The reader switches from one «voice» to another according to the changing colors of the sentences: red, orange and black. Switching color means going over to the next person writing. The identity of the characters is not known, developing a pure narrative voice coming from we-don't-know-where. This endless series of notes builds little by little a polyphonic murmur, which resonates in a purely mental field. The arrangement of the text on the pages is based on both ideas of continuity and fragmentation. The lay-out in a single paragraph gives a feeling of continuity while the changing colors create a feeling of alternation. This represents the very flow of any conversation and, at the same time, testifies to the presence of multidirectional sources, characters, moods and moments. Although the whole text consists of an endless litany of messages (5,000) it is impossible to define who is the sender, who is the addressee. All we get here are messages. And anything which could have possibly made them recognizable, like handwriting, of course disappeared when they were type-transcribed. But other clues remain apparent, such as misspelled words, which suggest foreign origins. There is, anyway, a kind of « who's who » game playing out between the lines in Blueberry Surprise.

Blueberry Surprise is a text in one single go. Looking at the Latin etymology of the word « text » brings us back to the transitive verb meaning « to weave » or « to braid ». Here we have indeed a powerful collection of intertwined fragments, subtly playing with (a)symmetrical patterns, rhythm and balance. But it is practically impossible to read the entire text out loud from one end to the other. The reader would not be able to take a break because of the lack of actual punctuation (apart from the one transcribed from each paper). He or she would be out of breath before even finishing one page. So, is Blueberry Surprise a kind of one-page book, devoted to silent reading? The special type of layout used places Blueberry Surprise somewhere in between the very archaic system of « scripta continua » and modern Western text setup. Although one should not forget that the lack of separation in manuscripts made the practice of silent reading impossible until around the 7th century… So, should we consider this text the visual representation of what a conversation «looks like»? 

When we speak, there are no pauses between each word. Words are all linked through the delivery of talk, knowing that all these scraps used to be written in a rush, in a constant attempt at following the rhythm of any spoken conversation.

Whereas in ancient civilizations people did not have a word for « word », since in the oral form of language, there is no awareness of words as graphic units, here we have quite the opposite. What is supposed to be spoken ends up on paper. The work of Joseph Grigely approaches very contemporary issues in the field of written communication, knowing that the boundaries of written language have evolved a great deal with contemporary tools like the Internet, emails, textos, which leads us directly to the heart of a whole set of theoretical questions.

Joseph Grigely drops the initial function of a daily communication tool and designs a complex construction, in an attempt to render the sound and color of unknown and invisible voices, revealing games that might be profound, absurd, hilarious or moving. Here we seize an exciting chance to read things said in everyday life but never written down. Fleeting marks end up crystallizing the very essence of a non-secret conversation.

With Blueberry Surprise, Joseph Grigely gives the reader the opportunity to plunge into ten years of conversations, and therefore to enter into the intimacy of exchanged notes, delivering quotes, remarks, questions, poetical breakaways, expression of feelings, flirt talks, mundane indications, etc. Besides, this one text conceals multitudes of meanings and levels as do the messages themselves. It could contain commentaries on the situation itself like « It's not something I would have told you if you could hear. I would still have written it down »; things that definitely do not need to be written down in order to be understood, like «Yes»; funny clarifications of misunderstandings such as «I said I'm oral not horrible». Grigely grants additional dimension to the conversation, considered as an art and captured in its theoretical, plastic, emotional and ontological extents.