I'm going Hunting

In an unprecedented manner, Galleri Urbane has the honor of hosting Loring Taoka’s second solo exhibition in the same year. A follow-up to February’s exhibition, Counteract, Taoka’s latest body of work reflects numerous bold developments that have occurred in the months heretofore. I’m Going Hunting furthers Taoka’s investigation of perception, utilizing his paintings on plexiglass that lie at the crux of the digital and physical realms.
Taoka’s paintings are grounded in ideas of truth and authenticity, the known and the unknown. Using geometry as a point of departure, he disfigures these universal principles to analyze how information can convey multiple and/or opposing meanings. Through this process he highlights how one’s own conclusions to deem something as real or fake, true or false, are formed through our own relative experience of the world and the information we are fed. Ultimately the judgements that are drawn, however true they may be, are linked to processes of forging a fixed identity. By blurring the edges surrounding matter-of-fact subjects, Taoka works to abstract these notions of truth and authenticity.
Wherein last winter’s exhibition found Taoka pushing the complexity of his geometric images, this series of paintings certainly continues the course. Significant to this factor are new methods of production that introduce laser-cut voids in the plexiglass panels. Intricately interacting with the artist’s painted geometries, these removed portions distort how one processes the work’s visual information and further complicate how the compositions are perceived. In addition, color choice continues to stray far from the artist’s early affinity for working with a grayscale. Vibrant hues of magenta to pale peaches and sky blue create a spectrum that capture what a digital sunset might look like. By utilizing these complex gradients, Taoka’s semi-dimensional images resist their static attributes and are more akin to a fluctuating graphic on a digital screen.
2277 Monitor St. Dallas, Texas 75207 | 325-226-8015 | www.galleriurbane.com

Altogether, the work in I’m Going Hunting lies in a grey area between the physical and the digital, the concise and the convoluted, inviting viewers to formulate their own subjective conclusions from the given information.

A public opening reception for I’m Going Hunting will take place at Galleri Urbane on Saturday, November 17th, 2018, from 5:30-8:30pm, including an informal artist talk at 5:30pm.

Loring Taoka (b. 1986) is an artist living and working in Fayetteville, Arkansas whose work utilizes a variety of approaches and techniques to explore notions of vagueness and authenticity. He acquired a BA from the University of Toledo and an MFA in Studio Art from the University of North Texas in 2011. His work has been featured in numerous venues across the country including Western Exhibitions (Chicago), CES Gallery (Los Angeles), Brooklyn Metal Works (NY), and has been published in New American Paintings. Taoka has been represented by Galleri Urbane since 2015 and I’m Going Hunting is his third solo exhibition with the gallery.
2277 Monitor St. Dallas, Texas 75207 | 325-226-8015 | www.galleriurbane.com