Expanding on his use of everyday materials, Willie Cole here uses the blackboard to layer associations. In a handwritten scrawl, he creates alternate meanings through short phrases composed of words beginning with the letters A, R, and T. Writing over words with a bright red oil stick while leaving the original word visible, he creates calculated word juxtapositions (removable and religious, Rauschenberg and Rembrandt). The phrases evoke two themes that are often referenced in the artist’s works: the interrogation of an object's role within a society, and the subjectivity of material value.