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
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