TJ Bateson - 'Pixel'

Wednesday 27 April - Sunday 21 May 2011

Click here for artwork by TJ Bateson

T J Bateson’s latest solo exhibition is a celebration and reflection of his current obsession with beauty within a digital pixelated world, fuelled by the discourse between technology, digital imagery and a modernist attraction to fluid media.
An artist who works in the abstract and whose aesthetic is about repetition of line and mark, Pixel represents a union of digital and traditional aesthetics, the magnification of everyday images to the point of abstraction. Bateson’s subtle shifts of hue in a limited palette result in a layering of abstract fields of pixels.

Having worked in various mediums over the past few years, including drawing, printmaking and photography, Pixel is a return to painting and a celebration of the digital pixel in paint. But it is also a continuation of Bateson’s exploration and development of the connections and inspirations of previous work.

From his printmaking background, working with either monotones or with inks that were tinged with colour, the artist has continued in his art practice to employ a reduced palette, exploring the interplay of low contrasts and how the changes in spatial relationships shift and change due to shallow spaces and the broken moment of pattern. To him, the subtle and easily overlooked is the most striking. Within a low contrast index, shifts in textures become more distinct. Quiet, muted tonal shifts of a contemplative nature call for reflection, allowing the many layers of the artist’s work to unfurl and unfold.