Henry Taylor: B Side
Oct 4, 2023–Jan 28, 2024
Gettin it done
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After graduating from CalArts in 1995, Taylor first moved to downtown Los Angeles, where he nurtured a significant rapport with his neighbors. Taylor's depictions of friends, local personalities, and passers-by are joined by street scenes inspired by his global travels. The result is a gallery of his extended community, which he commemorates in images that capture each subject's humanity and personality.
Henry Taylor, A Different Background, 2010
Henry Taylor, A Different Background, 2010. Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 95 1/2 × 78 1/4 in. (242.6 × 198.8 cm). Collection of Jeremy Kost. © Henry Taylor. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photograph by Sam Kahn
Likely inspired by Taylor’s trips to Africa, this work is based on a photograph published in a 1999 National Geographic article on African marriage rituals. The painting reflects Taylor’s voracious mining of print media that began in college where he studied journalism and cultural anthropology. “I used to be a journalism major,” Taylor said, “so I have a habit of going through the newspaper—not that I want to get bogged down and get depressed, but because that’s the way I was taught.”