Quayola, Storms
November 19, 2021–January 22, 2022

Gallery hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 11 AM–6 PM
Opening reception: Friday, November 19, 6–8 PM 

bitforms gallery is pleased to present Storms, a suite of new video works by Quayola. In his third solo exhibition with the gallery, the artist extrapolates on his research surrounding the tradition of landscape painting. Storms focuses on the pictorial substance of plein air studies with tools of advanced technologies. 

The action, color, and choreography of exhibited works are generated by a dataset sourced from ultra-high-definition footage of stormy seas in Cornwall, England. For Quayola, as well as master painters of the past, nature is a universal space to be explored when seeking a connection with reality. The aesthetics of Storms take inspiration from the likes of J.M.W. Turner, though the artist’s intention is not mimetic. His visual connections derive from the conception of natural space as a dimension in which expansive movements manifest. While Turner ushered in energy through brushstroke, Quayola implements digital vectors fueled by algorithms to transform stillness into sudden waves. The resultant kinetic force teems in an exasperated flow between the natural and digital sublime.

Storms is intended as an exhibition of unfinished artworks that paint themselves over time. Although each video contains pictorial forms that crumble towards abstraction, the works maintain their connection with data as a driving force. Quayola uses algorithms to provoke the sea as if viewed for the first time; foreign, yet familiar. Each seascape blends mnemonic, historical, and retinal knowledge to comprise a painting made up of pixels. 

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1982, Rome, Italy
Lives and works in London and Rome

Quayola employs technology as a lens to explore the tensions and equilibriums between seemingly opposing forces: the real and artificial, figurative and abstract, old and new. Constructing immersive installations, often at historically significant architectural sites, he engages with and reimagines canonical imagery through contemporary technology. Hellenistic sculpture, Old Master painting, and Baroque architecture are some of the historical aesthetics that serve as a point of departure for Quayola’s abstract compositions. His varied practice, all deriving from custom computer software, also includes audiovisual performance, video, sculpture, and works on paper.

Past exhibitions of his work of work include V&A Museum, London; Park Avenue Armory, New York; Bozar, Brussels; National Art Center, Tokyo; UCCA, Beijing; How Art Museum, Shanghai; SeMA, Seoul; Bienal, São Paulo; Triennale, Milan; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona; British Film Institute, London; Cité de la Musique, Paris; Grand Theatre, Bordeaux; Ars Electronica, Linz; Elektra Festival, Montreal; Sonar Festival, Barcelona and Sundance Film Festival.

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