For Cousins, there are several aspects to painting that are topical. One is the status of the image and the function of representation; another is the act/s of painting or the process and systems used. Cousins’ relationship with the recognisability of images sets him apart from most of his local contemporaries, and makes it necessary to align his work within its international context, alongside the likes of Gerhard Richter and Fabian Marcaccio.
At each stage in Cousins’ process of painting there is interference and disruption. Cousins employs found images, which are submerged and redefined as they are overlayed with layers of vinyl stencils and paint. Each use of drawing and painting is allowed to be outside the artist’s complete control. It is not questions of authorship that are a priority for Cousins, but the concern with the image and its (re)presentation, and the web of meanings these (re)presentations contribute to. Images, our belief in them and their function within a world of signification – constructing the familiar, forming identities – are interrogated and revealed for the habituating force they are. Cousins’ position is to place the image and our desire for certainty and comprehensibility, and the comfort of the already known, under question. This is a process akin to that which Deluzian art theorist Simon O’Sullivan callsallopoesis or deterritorialisation. Those aspects that make an image recognizable are ignored or taken and willfully reshaped to give out new signals, pushing us towards a fresh encounter with painting, to consider its and our options anew.
Text adapted from: Ruth Watson, Fast Paint and Interference: James Cousins’ Signal paintings and the deterritorialisation of the image, 2009
James Cousins was born in Christchurch in 1965. In 1989 he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Ilam, Canterbury School of Fine Arts. He graduated with a Diploma of Teaching from the Christchurch College of Education in 1998 and a Master of Fine Arts in 2004 from Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland.
In 2000 James Cousins was the recipient of the Christchurch-based Olivia Spencer Bower Award Fellowship and the works created during his residency are now part of the Christchurch City Art Gallery collection. Cousins has since been selected for inclusion in numerous award exhibitions including: The Wallace Art Awards (2005), Waikato National Art Awards (2002) and the Visa Gold Awards (1996, 1998). In 2004 Cousins was selected for inclusion in Code NZ at Canvas International in the Netherlands, which resulted in participation in the 2005 Rotterdam Art Fair. During 2007 Cousins was included in the contemporary painting exhibition: PX: A Purposeless Production/A Necessary Praxis (St Paul Street Gallery, Auckland) curated by Leonhard Emmerling. Cousins currently holds a position as lecturer at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland.
OPENING EVENT : July 25, 6-8pm
