Styrofoam, paint
9 x 234 x 153 in
22.9 x 594.4 x 388.6 cm
1998
Richard Humann • Psycho Killer • 9″ x 234″ x 153″ • Styrofoam, paint • 1998
In Psycho Killer, Richard Humann transforms lyrics from the Talking Heads song into a large-scale sculptural installation composed of Morse code. The lyrics are translated into sequences of dots and dashes, rendered as bas-relief blocks that collectively form a coded field of language. A printed decoder book accompanies the installation, allowing viewers to decipher the text and recover the song’s words from the sculptural surface.
The title connects the work to the Talking Heads song’s exploration of alienation, anxiety, and the difficulty of communication. Through fragmented thoughts, shifts between French and English, and the repeated, staccato refrain, the song presents a speaker whose words convey psychological unease. Humann extends this tension through Morse code, transforming the lyrics into a system of signals that conceals their meaning in plain sight. The song’s unsettling message remains embedded in the sculpture, but its recovery requires the viewer to decipher it, turning the act of understanding into an essential part of the work.
Morse code, historically used to transmit messages through simple, discrete signals, becomes both a communication system and a sculptural vocabulary. The familiar lyrics are separated from their musical context and transformed into a silent, physical arrangement. The decoder book provides a bridge between the coded surface and the original words, making interpretation an active process rather than an immediate experience.
The bas-relief blocks give language a material presence, while the coded surface conceals the message in plain sight. Viewers must reconstruct the lyrics piece by piece, confronting the distance between the presence of a message and the ability to understand it. The work turns reading into an act of discovery, revealing how meaning depends not only on the words themselves but also on the systems through which they are communicated.
Psycho Killer transforms a recognizable piece of popular music into a meditation on communication and psychological distance. By separating the lyrics from their musical setting and embedding them in a coded sculptural form, Humann asks how meaning survives when the familiar signals through which we understand it are removed. The title’s unsettling implications persist, but the message must first be decoded before its full significance can be encountered.
Richard Humann • Psycho Killer • 9″ x 234″ x 153″ • Styrofoam, paint • 1998
Richard Humann • Psycho Killer • 9″ x 234″ x 153″ • Styrofoam, paint • 1998
Photo credits: Joseph Silva / Richard Humann Studio