Cellular Automata: New Paintings by Taney Roniger

Michael J. Bowen
StandPipe Gallery, New York, NY
May 2011

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Cellular Automata would seem on the surface to be a rather sterile, scientific epithet, but the work of Taney Roniger is nothing if not resplendently alive. Although inspired by images produced by computer-generated replication models, Roniger’s canvases pulsate with an ambiance at once understated and teeming with life. Striking a nearly impossible balance between the reductive and the complex, her paintings combine artistic mastery with transcendental insight, resulting in an extraordinary gesture of great aesthetic beauty. A native of New Orleans, Roniger received her BFA from New York’s School of Visual Arts in 1992. After graduating, she continued her training at Yale University, where she studied with such noteworthy figures as Laura Newman, Mel Bochner, and Frances Barth. She has been the recipient of no fewer than three residency fellowships from Yaddo since finishing her MFA in 1997 and has exhibited regularly in greater New York as well as at group shows in Berlin and Japan.

For several years Roniger’s work has been distinguished by a keen interest in the generative power of complex patterns. Generally working with identical units – often small, laboriously inscribed spheres – Roniger maps out branching networks of dividing cellules laid out across a neutral if lightly textured background. To avoid excessive decorativeness, she limits her palette to a subtle grey, employing washes and overlapping figures to build slight variations in tone. Despite the work’s monochromatic foundations, however, her canvases often exude soft undertones of yellow and green, lighting the work from within and providing it with a compelling density.

At stake in Roniger’s project is a profound desire to bespeak something both ethereal and material in nature. Like de Broglie’s wave-particle duality, her work explores the basic unity between matter and energy, the inextricable indivisibility of all existing things.  There is a profoundly spiritual dimension to this outlook, one that is deeply felt in the intimacy of the canvases, which radiate a strong sense of contemplative presence. This is painting that transcends expression, that deals in universal truths and gets close to the heart of quiddities that are both highly analytical and extremely beautiful.

Cellular Automata is Roniger’s third solo exhibition since 2007 and takes place simultaneously with a solo show of works on paper at The Front gallery in her native New Orleans. In addition to her large-scale canvases, StandPipe Gallery is also proud to display examples of Roniger's “Pinprick” series, pierced works on paper which replicate a portion of the artist’s complex process on a smaller scale. In addition to her efforts as a fine artist, Roniger is also a member of the Faculty of Fine Arts at SVA, where she teaches in the Honors Program.