Axe/Exa/Axi is one of five pieces in a body of work that mark an evolution of Fones’ experiments in pictorial ambiguity. In many 2-dimensional works, he utilized different methods to make 2-d letters or text appear to be 3-D, such as typeface selection, shadows, and physically inscribing the letters into the surface. The letters in the round of Axe/Exa/Axi blur their previous representation as 2-D letters. They can be viewed from 360, thereby eliminating the conventional back and front of letterforms.

Meant to comment on the transition from manual handicraft to industrial production, the forms were made using a computer-progranned lathe. The letterforms of Axe/Exa/Axi refer to the objectification of letters, text, and language, while implying the impending negation of the hand-written word. The combinations of the letters form word fragments that are derived from Latin roots. The forms are coloured in accordance with their shape: linear or skeletal=yellow, conical=red, cylandrical=blue. Fones’ investigations of text, design, and fonts bring to our attention an often subliminal part of our everyday experience.