Tom Phillips began by finding his own lyrical poetry inside obscure Victorian text in 1970. (The Humument)
Tim Rollins & Kids of Survival, founded in 1982 (MoMA image), engaged text in a battle.
Christopher Wool (Apocalypse Now 1988) amplified the impact of a classic line.
Glenn Ligon (Untitled (I Do Not Always Feel Colored), 1990), amplified it by obscuring it.
Ann Hamilton turned the rudiments of text into a floor at the Seattle Central Library in 2004.
Mary Ruefle’s A Little White Shadow from 2006 (Wave Books) circles back around to Phillips but with simplicity. Instead of elaborate painting on a Victorian story, she used white out.
Dont forget about this guy: http://www.davidsongalleries.com/artists/beres/beres.php