Bio | Kāryn Taylor

Born 1969, Dunedin

Lives and works in New Zealand

In her large-scale installations and wall-based works, Kāryn Taylor manipulates light, form and shadow to challenge perception. Informed by geometric abstraction and the concepts of metaphysics (concerning the existence and nature of things) and quantum physics (concerning the behaviour of matter and energy), Kāryn's works play with the invisible structures that ground our reality.

Kāryn holds an MFA (First Class) from Elam School of Art, Auckland, 2013 and a BFA (Hons) from Massey University, Wellington, 2005. Her work has been exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and Australia, most recently at Te Tuhi, Auckland, Melbourne art Fair with Anna Pappas Gallery and the Sydney, and Auckland Art Fairs with Sanderson Gallery. In 2017 she was included in Personal Structures, Pallazo Mora, Pallazo Bembo, Venice, Italy and at Art-Athina Contemporary Art Fair, Faliron Pavilion, Athens, Greece. She was a finalist for the Wallace Art Award, 2014, and received a Merit at the Parkin Drawing Prize, 2017.

Education

Master of Fine Arts (First Class), Elam School of Art, Auckland, New Zealand, 2013

Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hon), Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, 2005

Certificate in Visual Communications, Christchurch Polytechnic, 1992

Certificate in Applied Art and Design, Otago Polytechnic, Otago, New Zealand, 1989

Exhibitions

2020

Impossible Logic, Jhana Millers, Wellington

Virtual Art Fair, Jhana Millers

Sydney Contemporary Presents, Sanderson Contemporary

2019

Geometry of Thought, Wallace Art Trust, Pah Homestead, Auckland

Group show, Jhana Millers Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand

Electric Hum, Gallery 9, Sydney, Australia

Shape of a circle, Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland, New Zealand

How to Construct Your Universe, Jhana Millers, Wellington, New Zealand

2018

Elements of Euclid, Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland, New Zealand

Diagram for a Quantum Event, Te Tuhi Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia

Melbourne Art Fair, Southbank Arts Precinct, Melbourne, Australia

The Gates, Jhana Millers, Wellington, New Zealand

Auckland Art Fair, The Cloud, Auckland, New Zealand

2017

Implicate Order, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

Time. Space. Existence., Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland, New Zealand

Personal Structures, Palazzo Bembo, Venice, Italy

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia

Art-Athina Contemporary Art Fair, Faliron Pavilion, Athens, Greece

Parkin Drawing Prize, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, New Zealand

2016

Line to Plane, Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland Art Fair, The Cloud, Auckland, New Zealand

Art-Athina Contemporary Art Fair, Faliron Pavilion, Athens, Greece

2015

Line of Site, Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland, New Zealand

Immaterial Alchemy, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

New Geometries, Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland, New Zealand

Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia

Light, 30upstairs, Wellington, New Zealand

Kāryn Taylor and Sandra Bushby, Window Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

Sculpture, Sanderson Contemporary, Auckland, New Zealand

2014

Jacob’s Ladder, Corner Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

New Zealand Sculpture on Shore, Fort Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand

Wallace Art Award, Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland, New Zealand

National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Museum, Auckland, New Zealand

2013

Abstract Philosophy, 30upstairs, Wellington, New Zealand

The Other Place, Allpress Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand

Launch 2012, Projectspace B431, Auckland, New Zealand

2012

Quietly Confident, SOFA Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand

Lola Anne Tunbridge Award, Projectspace B431, Auckland, New Zealand

2010

Jacob’s Ladder, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand

2009

A Matter of Mind, Dunedin Fringe Festival, Dunedin, New Zealand

2008

Practical Metaphysics, Dunedin Fringe Festival, Dunedin, New Zealand

Grants and Awards

2020

Finalist, Parkin Drawing Prize

2018

Finalist Fulbright-Wallace Award

2017

Merit Award, Parkin Drawing Prize

Jan Warburton Trust Grant

2014

Sponsorship, New Zealand Sculpture on Shore

Finalist, Wallace Art Award

Finalist, National Contemporary Art Award

2012

Finalist, Wallace Art Award

Finalist, Lola Anne Tunbridge Award

2008

Mitre10 Mega, Dunedin Fringe Festival Sponsorship

Selected Bibliography

ACU Art Collection; A New Perspective, Circular Spin, Zara Stanhope, 2020, p54-55 ISBN 978-1-922097-86-6

ArtZone, Light and Lines, Claire O'Loughlin, #82 2019-20, p23-31

Art New Zealand, The Observer Effect on Karyn Taylor, Lucinda Bennett, Summer 2018 - 19, p70-73

EyeContact, Taylor’s Moving (and moved around) Diagram, John Hurrell, 28 April 2018

EyeContact, Taylor’s Leaning Quadrilaterals, John Hurrell, 8 March 2017

Personal Structures, Open Borders, Kāryn Taylor, Jaimee Stockman-Young, 2017, p292.

Twenty /Twenty, Kāryn Taylor, Zara Stanhope, 2017, p140 – 147.

Contemporary HUM, An Interview with Kāryn Taylor, 22 September 2017

Art22.gr, What we saw in Foreign Galleries at Art Athina, Maria Xypolopoulou, 2 June 2017

20 Artists, 20 Writers, One New Zealand Gallery, Karyn Taylor, Elizabeth Brookbanks, p148 – 155

Art and Artist Blog, Anna Pappas Gallery: Simon MacEwan & Karyn Taylor, Zhen, 28 September 2015

EyeContact, Collecting and Emitting Light, John Hurrell, 5 August 2015

Art Collector Magazine, 2015 Undiscovered Artists, Sue Gardiner, Apr – Jun 2015, p 114

EyeContact, Outdoor Sculpture in Devonport, John Hurrell, 16 November 2014

EyeContact, National Contemporary Art Award in Hamilton, Peter Dornauf, September 1, 2014

Rob Garrett Curator, Project 015: Karyn Taylor, Rob Garrett, 7 April 2014

EyeContact, Thinking in the Abstract, Glen Snow, 23 October 2013

EyeContact, Eight Elam Students, John Hurrell, 27 August 2013