Cogitate on reference, echo, rhyme, and quotation, as these tropes function in paint and sculpture. If a MacArthur grant recipient says her work is influenced by Philip Guston, Andrea Kramer, and the mid-90s graffiti on the bathroom stalls at that one dive bar on Main Street, is that a thing we need to just accept? Is Barthes relevant here? How about Grant Wood? Does Barthes that angelic coterie of textual significance turn pirouettes on his heavenly cloud every time someone invokes him re: dead authors, live authors influenced by dead agonistes, live readers celebrating or mourning the death day of authors that may otherwise be alive? and so on?