Henry Taylor
Artist Henry Taylor working on a painting
Born1958
Ventura, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationCalifornia Institute of the Arts
Known forPainting

Henry Taylor (born 1958) is an American artist and painter who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his acrylic paintings, mixed media sculptures, and installations.

Life

Henry Taylor was born the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, which earned him the childhood nickname "Henry VIII"[1] (which he still occasionally calls himself)[2] in Ventura, California, to a father who was employed by the U.S. government as a commercial painter and is listed as a painter on Henry's birth certificate.[3][4] Raised in Oxnard, California, Henry took art classes at Oxnard College under James Jarvaise, who became an ongoing mentor.[4] His brother, Randy, was a founding member of the Ventura County chapter of the Black Panthers.[1][5]

After 10 years of working as a psychiatric technician at Camarillo State Mental Hospital, Taylor retired in 1997. He attended the California Institute for the Arts,[6] where in 1995, he obtained his Bachelor's of Fine Art.[7][8][9]

Work

Taylor's largest output of work is in portraiture: he is known to paint obsessively, on various materials, including empty cigarette packs, detergent boxes, cereal boxes, suitcases, crates, bottles, furniture, and stretched canvas.[6][10][11][12] His subjects include family, friends, patients (when employed at the hospital), acquaintances, strangers, waitresses, celebrities, homeless people, himself, historical figures, cultural figures, sports heroes, politicians, and individuals from photographs or other art works.[12][13][14][15][16][17] At times, Taylor collapses time periods and spaces, as in Cicely and Miles Visit the Obamas (2017): in this work, Cicely Tyson and Miles Davis—painted after a famous photograph of the couple from 1968—are seen in front of the White House, alluding to their imaginary visit to the Obamas.[18] Taylor's painterly style has been variously described as sensuous, vibrant, bold, fast and loose, full of empathy, generosity, and love, and the visual equivalent to blues music, while retaining a profound critical social sensibility.[10][13][14][19] His work has been lauded for maintaining an impossible balance between careful and sophisticated art-world references with a seemingly spontaneous and natural expressiveness.[20] Taylor's oeuvre has been aligned within various American lineages, including the portraiture tradition of Alice Neel, and the work of Harlem Renaissance painters such as Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, and compared with his peer Kerry James Marshall.[6][14][21]

One of Taylor's more recent works, The Times Ain't A Changing, Fast Enough![22] captures the events of the shooting of Philando Castile, who was shot and killed in his own car with his girlfriend and 4-year-old.

Taylor showed work that delved into the old practice of the Master's Golf Tournament using Black only caddies in a show titled: "Disappeared, but A Tiger Showed Up, Later" at Hauser & Wirth, Southampton.[23]

Exhibitions

Taylor's important exhibitions include a mid-career retrospective at MoMA PS1,[15] along with solo exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem, Artpace, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art, along with group exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Hammer Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Rubell Museum, and the Bruce High Quality Foundation.[24][25][26][27][28][29]

In 2023, he was an Artist-in-Residence at the Fabric Workshop Museum in Philadelphia, in which he presented the solo show Henry Taylor: Nothing Change, Nothing Strange.[30] Also in 2023, Taylor collaborated with rapper and music businessman Pharrell Williams on designs for the 2024 Spring Season men's collection for luxury brand Louis Vuitton.[31]

The Whitney Museum of American Art in Manhattan currently has an exhibit titled Henry Taylor: B Side from October 4, 2023 to January 28, 2024. From November 6, 2022 to April 30, 2023, it was at The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles. Exhibition Catalogue

Permanent collections

His works are included in the permanent collections of prestigious institutions in the United States such as Pérez Art Museum Miami,[32] Carnegie Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, New York,[33] San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,[34] the J. Paul Getty Museum,[35] the Pinault Collection,[36] Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, and Hammer Museum at University of California, Los Angeles, [30] among many others.

Awards

He was awarded the Robert De Niro, Sr. Prize for his achievements in painting.[5]

Art market

Taylor is represented by Hauser & Wirth (since 2020), Blum & Poe in Los Angeles,[37][31] and Feuer/Mesler gallery in New York.[38]

Quotes

“I paint everyone, or I try to. I try to capture the moment I am with someone who could be my friend, a neighbor, a celebrity, or a homeless person.”[39]

"It takes courage to do a lot of things. But, in a way, it doesn’t actually take courage, because you are free to do it. It’s like jumping in the water. The water’s cold, but you just jump in. You’ve gotta just jump in all the fucking time."[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Magazine, Wallpaper* (March 5, 2021). "Henry Taylor escapes to the English countryside with Hauser & Wirth". Wallpaper*. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  2. ↑ Pogrebin, Robin, "The ‘Slow Burn’ That Is Henry Taylor", The New York Times, October 26, 2022.
  3. ↑ Misheff, Johnny (7 March 2011). "Culture – Visiting Artists: Henry Taylor". New York Times Magazine.
  4. 1 2 3 Samet, Jennifer (June 27, 2015). "Beer With A Painter, LA Edition: Henry Taylor". Interviews. HyperAllergic. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Says, Art_teacher_mcr (March 1, 2021). "Henry Taylor debuts in UK". WEST HARLEM ART FUND. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 "Henry Taylor at MoMA PS1". Contemporary Art Daily. April 18, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2012.
  7. ↑ Hobbs, Roberts; Sirmans, Franklin; Wallace, Michelle (2008). 30 Americans: Rubell Family Collection, December 3, 2008–May 30, 2009. ISBN 978-0-9821195-1-8.
  8. ↑ Hoptman, Laura. "Henry Taylor, Pawel Althamer, and Cathy Wilkes Walk into a Bar…". Inside/Out: Collections and Exhibitions. MOMA. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Deana Lawson & Henry Taylor". Bomb Magazine. September 15, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Berzon, Stephanie (March 24, 2015). "Henry Taylor Filters Life Through Portraiture". ArtSlant.
  11. ↑ "Henry Taylor; January 29–April 9, 2012". MoMA — PS1 Exhibitions/Past.
  12. 1 2 "Artists: Henry Taylor". 2013 Carnegie International. Carnegie Museum of Art.
  13. 1 2 Johnson, Ken (February 22, 2012). "Art Review: A Visual Equivalent of the Blues, in Warm Shades: Henry Taylor's Portraits and Other Paintings at MoMA PS1". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 Myers, Holly (March 7, 2013). "Review: Henry Taylor paintings a potent presence at Blum & Poe". The Los Angeles Times.
  15. 1 2 Miller, Michael (January 27, 2012). "Henry Taylor Paints a Picture: A Retrospective of the Artist's Work Comes to PS1". Observer.
  16. ↑ Sargent, Antwaun (July 16, 2018). "Examining Henry Taylor's Groundbreaking Paintings of the Black Experience". Artsy. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  17. ↑ Smith, Zadie, "Henry Taylor's Promiscuous Painting". The New Yorker, July 23, 2018.
  18. ↑ Paik, Sherry (23 February 2023). "Henry Taylor". Ocula.
  19. ↑ Griffin, Jonathan. "Henry Taylor: Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA". Frieze, Issue 140. Archived from the original on November 26, 2015.
  20. ↑ Sharp, Chris. "Scrambling the Codes" (PDF). Blum & Poe PRESS. Art Review. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  21. ↑ Smith, Roberta (February 18, 2005). "Art in Review: Henry Taylor". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  22. ↑ Sargent, Antwaun (2018-07-16). "Examining Henry Taylor's Groundbreaking Paintings of the Black Experience". Artsy. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
  23. ↑ Brumer, Andy. "Henry Taylor's Paintings of Black Masters Caddies Chronicle a Complicated History". Morning Read. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  24. ↑ "30 Americans". Exhibitions. Corcoran Gallery. Archived from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  25. ↑ "Blues For Smoke: February 27 – April 02, 2013". Exhibitions. Whitney Museum of Art.
  26. ↑ "Henry Taylor: Girrrrrl! Sep 13–Dec 13, 2008". Exhibition Archive. Santa Monica Museum of Art.
  27. ↑ "Henry Taylor". Artists. Artpace.
  28. ↑ "Henry Taylor: Sis and Bra, Apr 11, 2007 - Jul 1, 2007". Past Exhibitions. Studio Museum.
  29. ↑ "Room to Live: Recent Acquisitions and Works from the Collection". Exhibitions, October 5, 2013 – March 30, 2014. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
  30. 1 2 "Henry Taylor". The Fabric Workshop and Museum. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  31. 1 2 Mattei, Shanti Escalante-De (2023-06-21). "Pharrell's Debut Collection for Louis Vuitton Spotlights the Art of Henry Taylor". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  32. ↑ "Everyone's Momma • Pérez Art Museum Miami". Pérez Art Museum Miami. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  33. ↑ "Henry Taylor | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  34. ↑ "Taylor, Henry". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  35. ↑ "Henry Taylor (The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection)". The J. Paul Getty Museum Collection. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  36. ↑ "Henry Taylor | Pinault Collection". lesoeuvres.pinaultcollection.com. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  37. ↑ Henry Taylor Now Works With Hauser & Wirth Along with Blum & Poe ARTnews, January 14, 2020.
  38. ↑ "Henry Taylor". Artists. Feuer/Mesler Gallery.
  39. ↑ "Henry Taylor at Carlos/Ishikawa". Contemporary Art Daily. September 22, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
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