Kyle Thurman
14 Dec 2013 - 08 Feb 2014
KYLE THURMAN
Banana Tourist
14 December 2013 – 8 February 2014
Colombia and Ecuador via Miami – Boulder – India via Charleston – New York – Brussels, etc
In Kyle Thurman’s first solo exhibition at Office Baroque, Banana Tourist, he presents a new group of paintings, drawings, and sculptural work.
Artificially dyed flowers are used to produce the large-scale fabric paintings. The pigment is extracted from the modified flowers and the same flowers and petals are used as stencils to create the image – the flowers provide both color and pattern. Harvested, shipped, dyed, redistributed, purchased, and processed to create the paintings. The works continue the life of the flowers by preserving their image in the fabric. The scale of these paintings allude to an industrially produced textile and continue to question the various manipulations of these flowers.
In a series of new drawings on engineering paper, materials that repel one another are layered to create fields of color resembling chemical samples. The embedded information of the engineering paper (border and text) provides structure that contrasts the fluid ‘mess’ of the painting while also alluding to the notion of labor and time. Certain drawings include another layer of inkjet transparency paper that is printed with templates from public signage or administrative paperwork - template designs become placeholders for imagery and language.
The third aspect of the show is made from the boxes that the flowers for the paintings are purchased in. Branded with farm and sponsorship information along with shipping labels – these pieces of cardboard provide the history of their travel on their surfaces. It is evident that the boxes are often used for multiple shipments and products – once labeled for “roses” and later reused for “white daisies.” The artist further alters some of the boxes by laser cutting text or imagery out of the cardboard. Some cardboard sections read KT BT OB – rebranding the commercial material for it’s final use in the exhibition by referencing the initials of the artist, show title, and gallery.
Nature is altered – threat acknowledged – and contamination repurposed. Transformations occur. Alternative forms of representation become new identities – new images of the original.
Banana Tourist
14 December 2013 – 8 February 2014
Colombia and Ecuador via Miami – Boulder – India via Charleston – New York – Brussels, etc
In Kyle Thurman’s first solo exhibition at Office Baroque, Banana Tourist, he presents a new group of paintings, drawings, and sculptural work.
Artificially dyed flowers are used to produce the large-scale fabric paintings. The pigment is extracted from the modified flowers and the same flowers and petals are used as stencils to create the image – the flowers provide both color and pattern. Harvested, shipped, dyed, redistributed, purchased, and processed to create the paintings. The works continue the life of the flowers by preserving their image in the fabric. The scale of these paintings allude to an industrially produced textile and continue to question the various manipulations of these flowers.
In a series of new drawings on engineering paper, materials that repel one another are layered to create fields of color resembling chemical samples. The embedded information of the engineering paper (border and text) provides structure that contrasts the fluid ‘mess’ of the painting while also alluding to the notion of labor and time. Certain drawings include another layer of inkjet transparency paper that is printed with templates from public signage or administrative paperwork - template designs become placeholders for imagery and language.
The third aspect of the show is made from the boxes that the flowers for the paintings are purchased in. Branded with farm and sponsorship information along with shipping labels – these pieces of cardboard provide the history of their travel on their surfaces. It is evident that the boxes are often used for multiple shipments and products – once labeled for “roses” and later reused for “white daisies.” The artist further alters some of the boxes by laser cutting text or imagery out of the cardboard. Some cardboard sections read KT BT OB – rebranding the commercial material for it’s final use in the exhibition by referencing the initials of the artist, show title, and gallery.
Nature is altered – threat acknowledged – and contamination repurposed. Transformations occur. Alternative forms of representation become new identities – new images of the original.