taryn coulson
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Contingency Series Untitled no9 (June), 48x48, oil on canvas Much of my knowledge and experience of painting and art history comes through the Internet and reproduced images in books and journals. These sources are helpful but in isolation left me disconnected and distanced from a full understanding and experience of these works. My paintings express this disconnect by engaging with, and drawing attention to, the processes by which technological media has influenced and interfered with our understanding of paintings as an art form. My paintings are based on digital versions of historical art works, reproduced by my failing inkjet printer. My printer’s attempt to recreate the paintings results in missing information, improper colours, and distracting stripes and lines throughout the image. The irony and contradiction through the opposition of the printer’s lines with the painting beneath is important to me. I am interested in how the lines of colour end up informing the painting, visually overcomplicating the simpler works they are based on. In this work, I am exploring this visual effect on an optical abstract painting, resulting in a play between Op art and the accidental optical effects of the printer. My paintings serve as both a critique and tribute, an ironic presentation of technology’s miscommunication of visual information.

Contingency Series Detail: Untitled no9 (June), 48x48, oil on canvas, 2011

Inkjet Series Stain Variations, various sizes (largest 6x9.5), inkjet on canvas, 2011 These paintings are a series of small works that I have created through the manipulation of existing paintings on my computer, and output on my faulty inkjet printer. Each source image I have edited/broken down into a mainly cyan, mainly yellow, and a mainly magenta version, and then they are printed over top of each other on canvas paper fed through my printer, in different orientations to create the final product. I then secure these inkjet paintings to wooden frames built specifically for each image. They are similar to the contingency series in their engagement with questions of technical reproduction, originality and appropriation. No two paintings are ever the same, despite the fact that I use the same source image multiple times, and the fact they are all products of the same machine.

Inkjet Series Causeway Variations, various sizes, inkjet on canvas, 2011

Contingency Series Untitled no8 (Shadow play), 48x60, acrylic/oil on canvas

HP 4180.2, 8 ½ x11, inkjet on paper, 2011

HP 4180.1, 8 ½ x 11, inkjet on paper, 2011 

Contingency Series Untitled no7 (Colours for Large Wall), 48x48, acrylic/oil on canvas

Contingency Series Untitled no6 (Zip), 48x60, acrylic/oil on canvas

Contingency Series Detail: Untitled no5 (Blue Atmosphere), 48x60, acrylic/oil on canvas

Contingency Series Untitled no5 (Blue Atmosphere), 48x60, acrylic/oil on canvas, 2011

Contingency Series Detail: Untitled no4 (Slave ship), 48x60, oil on canvas

Contingency Series Untitled no4 (Slave ship), 48x60, oil on canvas

Contingency Series Detail: Untitled no3 (Nocturne in Grey and Gold), 48x60, oil on canvas

Contingency Series Untitled no3 (Nocturne in Grey and Gold), 48x60, oil on canvas