Keith Tyson

Haunch of Venison, London

Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2009 

London, Parasol Unit, Cloud Choreography and Other Emergent Systems, 2009, p. 23, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colour in the catalogue illustration is fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is slightly warmer in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
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"The nature paintings are like a thin atmosphere on the surface of a metal sheet. They’re paintings by nature rather than of nature – because its just nature doing what it does, instantly and across the whole surface."

Keith Tyson quoted in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, Pace Gallery, Keith Tyson, 2013, p. 5.

A riot of electric colour Keith Tyson’s Mathematical Nature Painting (Nested) is a magnificent, kaleidoscopic example of the artist’s celebrated marriage of aesthetics and scientific data. Tyson’s work can be seen as a fundamental enquiry into both the materialisation and conception of matter, as the artist expands: "I've always been interested in how things come into being and the way we understand them" (Keith Tyson quoted in: Jonathan Romney, ‘On cloud nine: Turner Prize-winner Keith Tyson reveals the surprising ideas behind his mind-bending work’, The Independent, 13 September 2009, online resource). Much of his practice innovatively explores the biological systems present in the natural world and the way in which man both interrupts and alters these environmental structures. His incredibly multidisciplinary practice operates on numerous levels that involve data, processes and systems, to conflate the artistic with the scientific; the result is a body of work that forcefully urges us as viewers to consider the aesthetics of empiricism, science and nature. Above all else, it is the innate beauty in things, both natural and artificial, that informs his work.

To create his psychedelic Nature Paintings Tyson first primes the aluminium panel with acid. Onto this surface a variety of paints, pigments and other substances are applied and allowed to interact in a number of controlled ways. The final aesthetic of the work is thus shaped by several factors such as the local temperature, and how this affects the rate of evaporation and speed of chemical reactions; the viscosity and miscibility of the various substances; the quantities chosen by the artist and the order in which they are poured onto the surface. Indeed, the reason why these works are called Nature Paintings is not that the final subject matter often assumes the shape of things seen in nature, such as crystals and rock formations, but because of the process of creation. As Tyson asserts, “the significant aspect of the series is not that they are paintings of nature, but they are paintings by nature” (Keith Tyson quoted in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, Parasol Unit, Keith Tyson: Cloud Choreography and Other Emergent Systems, 2009, n.p.).