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Solution Paintings
Solution Drawings

Solution Paintings

An ongoing series exploring painting as a site where material, colour and gesture originate in language, data, and instruction.

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I have devised a system that translates numbers from the grids of Sudoku puzzle solutions published in daily newspapers into a code that dictates specifications for the paintings. The system decides the constituent elements - dimensions, support, composition, colour, paint application, hanging, titling and price.

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The aim is to make work that exists outside of my own imagination and sense of taste and judgment, however it is difficult to completely escape such embedded biases. When applying paint to a surface under strict limitations, the ‘best’ way to proceed within the parameters of the system is often unclear so I try to ‘play’ within the given constraints. They may be outcomes of an ‘infallible’ process yet they give testimony to choice, judgment and fallibility.

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The instructions are available as a limited edition text work - Solution Text

 

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Photography by Benjamin Owen

Solution Drawings

The drawings are made with black and white indian ink on the front pages of the newspapers that the Sudoku solutions have been taken from. They serve as a quick device for visualising the composition that each puzzle will generate.

 

By using the newspaper as a support for the ink, and allowing the text and images to remain visible, the rationalism and logic of the puzzle pages is conflated with the front-page headline grabbing chaos of the world.

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