Nest Time
The Sunday Painter, London / April 27 - June 10, 2023
'On the ground floor of the gallery, three towering canvases – each stretching four metres tall and three metres wide – envelop the architecture that hosts them. Here, the space mirrors both the transportive and contemplative nature of Kraus’ paintings, acting as a portal to an alternate state of being. Due to the constricted dimensions of space during her making process, Kraus can only hypothetically construct the appearance of the full paintings in her mind. She explains: “Using this apparatus is like painting with blinders on. I hold the memory of surrounding marks as I focus on what I can see, forcing my eyes to layer linear time like ears do when composing a musical score. This process forces me to remain with the present moment.” Each work requires prolonged periods of deliberation as Kraus introduces more paint to the rollers, which spreads, grows and confines itself within structured repeating lines that layer themselves over and over again. New marks and shapes gradually acquire meaning, often exhibiting an organic quality resembling the repetitive – yet never quite identical – motifs akin to the ever-changing patterns found in nature. Upon closer inspection, this pattern-like iconography might recall the sinuous texture of snakeskin, an intricate network of veins, or the fluctuations of an increased heart rate. From afar, one might even recognise the warping frequencies of audio waveforms as their signal varies in strength.
Informed by her extensive background in meditative, yogic and somatic practices, Kraus’ process is distinctly contemplative and reflective in nature. To create an organic image within a rigid system requires listening, attention and choreography of movement. The works included in Nest Time, then, refect a continuous and cyclical universe, shaped by our ability to construct our lives amidst the tangible and ofen constrained realities of our existence. The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive essay by Alan Dorin, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University, whose extensive research examines stochastic processes in the realm of art and creativity.'
Excerpt from The Sunday Painter
