Keith Tyson
23 - 27 Jun 2009
© Keith Tyson
Four Elements (Fire)(Water)(Earth)(Air), 2008
Mixed media on aluminum
Four parts; 78 x 78 inches each (198 x 792 centimeters)
Installed dimensions variable
7 of 10 « »X
Four Elements (Fire)(Water)(Earth)(Air), 2008
Mixed media on aluminum
Four parts; 78 x 78 inches each (198 x 792 centimeters)
Installed dimensions variable
7 of 10 « »X
KEITH TYSON
May 23 – June 27, 2009
Opening reception: Saturday, May 23rd, 6 – 8 pm
Blum & Poe is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in Los Angeles of British artist Keith Tyson.
This exhibition will include three bodies of Tyson’s current work, Nature Paintings, Operator Paintings, and Studio Wall Drawings. Tyson is known for using a disparate array of mediums and methods to present and explore some of the most challenging questions and paradoxes about the nature of being and man’s place in the world. His vast output mirrors the wonder and terror of our uncontrollable and awe-inspiring reality, as the formal sciences of cosmology and mathematics mingle with Tyson’s ideas about the complex systems that surround us. Tyson isolates these various methods of thought only to scramble them again in order to elucidate the overwhelming sensation of interconnectedness.
Nature Paintings is a series that Tyson has been producing since 2006. Described most aptly as paintings by nature rather than of nature, these paintings typify Tyson’s penchant for creating systems within which chance, as well as Tyson’s eye, generates the art. For these paintings Tyson pours paint, chemicals, pigments, and other substances onto specialized grounds and then angles them to invite stunning reactions of form and color. From this act of surrendering to the materials, the work independently develops and becomes an extraction of what we see and experience in nature.
The Operator Paintings are works made by the application of equations, devised from standard mathematical operators. Tyson investigates natural, social, mathematical, and cosmological systems and seeks ways to illustrate their dialogue. Often he couples mathematical theories with imagery, forming complementary relationships in which one form of communication makes up for the other’s limitations. In doing so, Tyson highlights the parallels in the languages, in this case of math and art, but in contrast to the nature paintings, these works relate to man-made reflections rather than process-driven systems.
Finally, the Studio Wall Drawings are at once a visual diary and a skeleton key to Tyson’s practice. Combining images, sketches, words, and excerpts from conversations, Tyson traces and connects his varying subjects, revealing for his viewers his thought processes and insights into all the things that inspire and inform his work.
Keith Tyson was born in Ulverston, Cumbria. Tyson has been included in several recent exhibitions, a selection includes Nature Paintings, Tullie House Museum, Carlisle, Cumbria (2008); Random Nature, Project B, Milan, Italy (2008); Large Field Array; The Turner Prize: A Retrospective at Tate Britain (2007); the Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark (2006); and Dionysiac, Centre Pompidou (2005). His work belongs to many collections worldwide, such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; San Francisco; the Art Council Collection, London; Foundation Francois Pinault, Paris; The South London Gallery Collection, London; and the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuelle Kunst (SMAK), Gent, Belgium. In 2002 Tyson won the Turner Prize. Tyson lives and works in Brighton and London, England.
May 23 – June 27, 2009
Opening reception: Saturday, May 23rd, 6 – 8 pm
Blum & Poe is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition in Los Angeles of British artist Keith Tyson.
This exhibition will include three bodies of Tyson’s current work, Nature Paintings, Operator Paintings, and Studio Wall Drawings. Tyson is known for using a disparate array of mediums and methods to present and explore some of the most challenging questions and paradoxes about the nature of being and man’s place in the world. His vast output mirrors the wonder and terror of our uncontrollable and awe-inspiring reality, as the formal sciences of cosmology and mathematics mingle with Tyson’s ideas about the complex systems that surround us. Tyson isolates these various methods of thought only to scramble them again in order to elucidate the overwhelming sensation of interconnectedness.
Nature Paintings is a series that Tyson has been producing since 2006. Described most aptly as paintings by nature rather than of nature, these paintings typify Tyson’s penchant for creating systems within which chance, as well as Tyson’s eye, generates the art. For these paintings Tyson pours paint, chemicals, pigments, and other substances onto specialized grounds and then angles them to invite stunning reactions of form and color. From this act of surrendering to the materials, the work independently develops and becomes an extraction of what we see and experience in nature.
The Operator Paintings are works made by the application of equations, devised from standard mathematical operators. Tyson investigates natural, social, mathematical, and cosmological systems and seeks ways to illustrate their dialogue. Often he couples mathematical theories with imagery, forming complementary relationships in which one form of communication makes up for the other’s limitations. In doing so, Tyson highlights the parallels in the languages, in this case of math and art, but in contrast to the nature paintings, these works relate to man-made reflections rather than process-driven systems.
Finally, the Studio Wall Drawings are at once a visual diary and a skeleton key to Tyson’s practice. Combining images, sketches, words, and excerpts from conversations, Tyson traces and connects his varying subjects, revealing for his viewers his thought processes and insights into all the things that inspire and inform his work.
Keith Tyson was born in Ulverston, Cumbria. Tyson has been included in several recent exhibitions, a selection includes Nature Paintings, Tullie House Museum, Carlisle, Cumbria (2008); Random Nature, Project B, Milan, Italy (2008); Large Field Array; The Turner Prize: A Retrospective at Tate Britain (2007); the Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark (2006); and Dionysiac, Centre Pompidou (2005). His work belongs to many collections worldwide, such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; San Francisco; the Art Council Collection, London; Foundation Francois Pinault, Paris; The South London Gallery Collection, London; and the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuelle Kunst (SMAK), Gent, Belgium. In 2002 Tyson won the Turner Prize. Tyson lives and works in Brighton and London, England.