During the past decade, Wade Guyton (b. 1972) has emerged as one of the most innovative and influential artists of his generation by using common technology to reinvent abstraction and question the ways in which images function and circulate. His works range from "drawings" made by printing letters and shapes on found book pages using word-processing software to "paintings" executed by running sheets of primed canvas through a large-format printer. The misuse of these machines results in accidents that create subtle painterly incident while gesturing to a world of technological failure and possibility. Guyton's works are often deployed in dramatic architectural installations; drawings fill dozens of vitrines and multi-panel paintings stretch fifty feet wide or more than twenty feet high. This book illuminates Guyton's unconventional working methods and the development of his techniques, showcasing the visual flair and conceptual provocation inherent in his art.
Scott Rothkopf is a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
