Exhibitions

LANCE TURNER: ISOMORPHISM AND OBJECTIVITY

Beverly and Sam Ross Gallery (Christian Brothers University) / 650 East Parkway South August 28, 2023 - September 29, 2023

Lance Turner

A solo exhibition of new work by Lance Turner.

Exhibition Statement:

The paintings in this show are made by substituting the brushstroke with some other variable information, which could be a color, a photograph, or a drawing. Because the images in this show are sequentially ordered by grids, I took the opportunity to expand the photorealist grid method to include multiple number systems that overlap within the same grid increment. While the photorealist image may be a one to one translation, the mapping of other kinds of information create a coded space in the way it is read. For instance, a torus creates a looped space or a gradient of a looped music sample creates a doughnut shape.

A recurring theme in this show is isomorphism, which is an identical object created within two different kinds of space, whether that is positive and negative, micro and macro, or two versions of an encoding. I use isomorphisms because they point to Alan Turing's use of numbers as stand-ins for words in solving the Entsheidungsproblem, and creating the first programmable computers. Turing's work is important to me because I believe that this is where painting failed to keep up with technology, and I am playing catch up in a game that I can't win, but I believe using multiple number systems, describing spaces, and expanding the possibilities of Photorealism will make interesting paintings.

A final source of interest in my paintings is objectivity. I use numbers because they are a language with axiomatic definitions. This is a purposeful rejection of Post-structuralism because you can never pinpoint a meaning if a painting is just a text with one set of intentions brought by the painter, and a distinct interpretation by each viewer that looks at the painting. I want to describe how subjectivity forms through the juxtaposition of many objective texts. While I believe pure, reductivist objectivity is possible in a painting, it is much more interesting to relate ideas and encode the dryest language so that it is mysterious.