Katie Paterson

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Born 1981, Glasgow, Scotland; lives in Fife, Scotland; works in Edinburgh and London, United Kingdom

The Cosmic Spectrum, 2019; Spinning disk, printed vinyl, motor Artwork dimensions: 78 1/4 inches/198.5 cm diameter disc; Housed motor dimensions: 20 1/4 x 29 x 24 inches/51.43 x 73.66 x 60.96 cm

Astrophysics researchers Karl Glazebrook and Ivan Baldry have measured light from more than 200,000 galaxies, and from the data gathered, have extrapolated the color of each era, from primordial times, through the Dark Ages, to the current Stelliferous Era in which we now live, which began some 155 million years after the Big Bang when stars first formed. The color they have determined that is the average color of the universe today is Latte. It is interesting to note that Starbuck’s top selling seasonal drink is Pumpkin Spice Latte—with about 20 million sold per year—the color of which roughly matches the color we see on the spinning Cosmic Spectrum. Katie Paterson makes this research on color visible and comprehensible in her 2019 work Color Spectrum, with the color of each era having its place on the disc. Spinning, we see the blended, or average color of knowable time. This work was commissioned by the Turner Contemporary for the artist’s major retrospective that year. That the color of the universe matched the palette of J.M.W. Turner was serendipitous.

Exploring time and space, as evidenced through the natural world—geological, astronomical, ecological—are the broad directions of Katie Paterson’s multi-media practice. She is able to translate concept into image, cosmological scale into graspable intimate forms. She studied at the Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland and the Slade School of Art, London, United Kingdom. Major exhibitions in museums including Turner Contemporary, Hayward Gallery, and Tate Britain, all in London, United Kingdom; Kunsthalle Wien, Austria; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; Guggenheim Museum, New York; and The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, Scotland have included her work. She was winner of the Visual Arts category of the South Bank Awards, and is an Honorary Fellow of Edinburgh University.

https://www.jamescohan.com/artists/katie-paterson

© Katie Paterson 2020. Image courtesy of the artist and James Cohan, New York.