Painting is the ultimate undying medium; from time to time it is declared dead, becomes resurrected, is killed again – only to arise from the grave. Painting has become somewhat like a character in a horror film that simply cannot be erased from existence. When images are created with a painterly character within the parameters of a computer programme, the canon becomes reanimated through simulation. The integration of text and image, recurring patterns and glitches, fragment the compositions into a new form of abstraction.

Perhaps it is this type of abstraction that best resembles our disjointed current moment, interactive yet dependent on the screens that surround us in our daily lives. The precarity of being a painter is somewhat different than that of a digital artist. Instead of waiting for the next pay-check in order to buy materials, the digital artist must constantly organise and convert his data.

Timothy Shearer was born and raised in Virginia, USA, but has lived in Germany for 10 years. He studied sculpture, painting and German at the Virginia Commonwealth University and received a postgraduate degree in media art from the Academy of Media Arts, Cologne. His artistic practise explores several modes of production, from analogue to digital painting, music to sculpture, installation to web-based projects. Timothy currently has a working studio stipend at the Kölnische Kunstverein.