O Superman (Laurie Anderson) • David Ellis

Original 11×17 printout from David Ellis’ iconic Roebling Hall exhibition “Dozens”, 2008. NYC where attendees of the exhibition were encouraged to take a copy.

The most elaborate and layered piece in the show is “Oh Superman,” which pays homage to Laurie Anderson’s premonitory performance (and eponymous song). Ellis’s rhythmic “Oh Superman” is a combination typewriter and player piano. In the shape of Superman’s emblem, Anderson’s lyrics are typed on the piano rolls then mechanically cut and inserted into glass bottles, which roll off in random directions to deliver an S.O.S.: “Here come the planes. They’re American planes. Made in America.”

We see the same Superman emblem in a bird’s-eye view projection of Ellis’s painting the top of packing crates. Another reference to planes appears in a found text for airplane safety, used in one of a series of college panels hung throughout the gallery. The panels are composed of various texts and drawings, including his to-do lists, and a wave-like form resembling a graffiti tag.