Early in her career as an artist, Tauba Auerbach worked as a sign painter. Her experience with typography encouraged her to create abstract pieces that explore the interior shapes found within individual letterforms, or what graphic designers call “counters.” Today Auerbach expresses herself in many mediums – from paintings to sculptures to photography. Her conceptual approach is influenced by the worlds of science, mathematics and craft, all of which inform work that challenges the viewer’s perceptions of art.
The installation shown here, RGB Colorspace Atlas, is a collection of 8 x 8 x 8-inch casebound books utilizing a specialized colour system. RGB (red, green, blue) is an additive colour model for electronic devices such as computer and television monitors. In printing CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) inks create colours, whereas RGB creates colours through the use of light. Auerbach says this series is intended to reveal “new spectral and dimensional richness, both within and beyond the limits of perception.” These books force the viewer to reconsider how information is presented to us, knowing that every medium has its expectations and its limitations.