Bio | Kāryn Taylor
Kāryn Taylor in her studio
Born 1969, Ōtepoti, Dunedin
Lives and works in Aotearoa, 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, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, 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, Tāmaki Makaurau,Auckland, New Zealand, 2013
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hon), Massey University, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, New Zealand, 2005
Certificate in Visual Communications, Christchurch Polytechnic, 1992
Certificate in Applied Art and Design, Otago Polytechnic, Otago, New Zealand, 1989
Exhibitions
2021
Squaring the circle, Gallery 9, Sydney
AN IMPLICATE ORDER, Sanderson, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
2020
Impossible Logic, Jhana Millers, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
Virtual Art Fair, Jhana Millers
Sydney Contemporary Presents, Sanderson Contemporary
2019
Geometry of Thought, Wallace Art Trust, Pah Homestead, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Group show, Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
Electric Hum, Gallery 9, Sydney
Shape of a circle, Sanderson Contemporary, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
How to Construct Your Universe, Jhana Millers, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
2018
Elements of Euclid, Sanderson Contemporary, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Diagram for a Quantum Event, Te Tuhi Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney
Melbourne Art Fair, Southbank Arts Precinct, Melbourne
The Gates, Jhana Millers, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
Auckland Art Fair, The Cloud, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
2017
Implicate Order, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne
Time. Space. Existence., Sanderson Contemporary, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Personal Structures, Palazzo Bembo, Venice, Italy
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney
Art-Athina Contemporary Art Fair, Faliron Pavilion, Athens, Greece
Parkin Drawing Prize, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
2016
Line to Plane, Sanderson Contemporary, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Auckland Art Fair, The Cloud, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Art-Athina Contemporary Art Fair, Faliron Pavilion, Athens, Greece
2015
Line of Site, Sanderson Contemporary, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Immaterial Alchemy, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne
New Geometries, Sanderson Contemporary, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney
Light, 30upstairs, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
Kāryn Taylor and Sandra Bushby, Window Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Sculpture, Sanderson Contemporary, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
2014
Jacob’s Ladder, Corner Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
New Zealand Sculpture on Shore, Fort Takapuna, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Wallace Art Award, Wallace Arts Trust, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Museum, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
2013
Abstract Philosophy, 30upstairs, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington
The Other Place, Allpress Gallery, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Launch 2012, Projectspace B431, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
2012
Quietly Confident, SOFA Gallery, Ōtautahi, ChristchurchTāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Lola Anne Tunbridge Award, Projectspace B431, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
2010
Jacob’s Ladder, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Ōtepoti, Dunedin
2009
A Matter of Mind, Dunedin Fringe Festival, Ōtepoti, Dunedin
2008
Practical Metaphysics, Dunedin Fringe Festival, Ōtepoti, Dunedin
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
Essays/Reviews
Kāryn Taylor’s Cast Acrylic Light Works, John Hurrell, EyeContact, April 2021. Read it here
ACU Art Collection; A New Perspective, Circular Spin, Zara Stanhope, 2020, p54-55
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
Taylor’s Moving (and moved around) Diagram, EyeContact, John Hurrell, 28 April 2018. Read it here
Taylor’s Leaning Quadrilaterals, John Hurrell, EyeContact, 8 March 2017. Read it here
Personal Structures, Open Borders, Kāryn Taylor, Jaimee Stockman-Young, 2017, p292.
Twenty /Twenty, Kāryn Taylor, Zara Stanhope, 2017, p140 – 147.
An Interview with Kāryn Taylor, Contemporary HUM, 22 September 2017. Read it here
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
Collecting and Emitting Light, John Hurrell, EyeContact, 5 August 2015. Read it here
Art Collector Magazine, 2015 Undiscovered Artists, Sue Gardiner, Apr – Jun 2015, p 114
Outdoor Sculpture in Devonport, John Hurrell, EyeContact, 16 November 2014. Read it here
Rob Garrett Curator, Project 015: Karyn Taylor, Rob Garrett, 7 April 2014. Read it here
Thinking in the Abstract, EyeContact, Glen Snow, 23 October 2013. Read it here.
Eight Elam Students, EyeContact, John Hurrell, 27 August 2013. Read it here
Elam-Ilam Quietly Confident, Victoria Wynne-Jones, University of Canterbury, 2012
Otago Daily Times, Take Note, March 18, 2010, p 30.
Otago Daily Times, Fun House Trip into the Unknown, Nigel Benson, April 2, 2008, p 12.
Otago Daily Times, 2008 Dunedin Fringe, Nigel Benson, April 3, 2008, p 8.
Otago Daily Times, Invited Artists show a Fine Realism, James Dignan, April 10, 2008