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WORDPLAY

By Lisa J. Curtis
The Brooklyn Paper

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One of the Brooklyn Public Library’s current exhibitions features work by a designer who literally makes art from words.

And while that artist’s name may not be a household world, the name of the novelist whom he has collaborated with, Dan Brown, certainly is. In fact, Brown named his "DaVinci Code" character, Robert Langdon, for John Langdon, who designed "ambigrams" for Brown’s previous novel, "Angels & Demons." The Central Library is now showing those ambigrams - words that can be read from multiple vantage points - that he designed for "Angels & Demons." These works are characterized by 180-degree rotational symmetry. They "read the same when turned upside down," explains Langdon.

Also on display are ambigrams that Langdon created for the opening credits of "The DaVinci Code" (pictured), which were not used in the film. These designs, known as totem ambigrams, are vertical in structure and have bilateral symmetry.

"The Langdons in Dan Brown’s Novels: Words in Pop Fiction" is on display now through Aug. 12 in the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central branch (in the balcony cases on the second floor) in Grand Army Plaza. For more information, including library hours, call (718) 230-2100 or visit the Web site www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

©2006 Community Newspaper Group

→Atlantic Yards: State big to Brooklyn: You’re Manhattan now

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