- Alasdair Taylor
Alasdair Grant Taylor (1934 – 2007) was a Scottish
artist andsculptor .Life
Alasdair Taylor ws born in
Rossshire and trained as an artist at theGlasgow School of Art , subsequently living inDenmark andGlasgow . In 1967 he moved toPortencross ,Ayrshire , where he lived reclusively with his wife Annelise and their daughters Anna and Jean. [http://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/na/Arts&Culture.nsf/0c624c0bb4c5be1b80256d98004a443d/cb85e7369ac5069080256ee0003f0860/$FILE/LOOP%2019%20-%20for%20web.pdf The Loop] , North Ayrshire's Cultural Magazine, #19, Summer 2007] In March 2005 he suffered a stroke and had to leave his home. [http://www.ardrossanherald.com/article.php?sec=1&id=10689 Artist suffers stroke] , "Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald", February 23, 2006] He died in 2007.Work
Taylor's formative influences included the COBRA group in
Denmark , especiallyAsger Jorn , whom his wife knew.In most of his
oil painting s before the mid-1960s, the paint is thickly applied. After this time, he used oil more thinly. There are extremes of colour from bright to sombre.His nude drawings and paintings of nudes are mostly of his wife. His collages used
photographs and newspaper cuttings combined with brush strokes, influenced byDadaism and earlyCubism . He made abstract oil paintings with brush,palette knife ,spray can and other techniques: some of these are intended to be hung in groups and named after the seasons.Sculptures were created from
driftwood which Taylor collected from thebeach nearPortencross , then carved and partly painted orvarnish ed. He made use of stones similarly.He filled notebooks with ideas mingled with sketches in pen or
watercolour and did ink drawings on the blank pages of art books he had been given.The
Scottish Arts Council has given a grant to Street Level Photoworks to catalogue and digitise Taylor's work.Alasdair Gray
Taylor's work is the subject of an ongoing promotion by his friends
Alasdair Gray andJames Kelman to raise it out of obscurity that they argue is undeserved. [ [http://alasdairgray.blogspot.com/2006/07/alasdair-taylor-painter-travelling.html Alasdair Taylor, Painter: Travelling Exhibition 2007-2009] , Alasdair Gray, weblog, July 6, 2006] Taylor also featured in "Portrait of a painter", "the story of an artist ... who persists in his painting though he remains unrecognized and unrewarded", ["World Authors 1980-1985", Vineta Colby, H. W. Wilson, 1991, ISBN 0824207971 [http://www.google.co.uk/books?q=%22Lean+Tales%22+%22Alasdair+Taylor%22&btnG=Search+Books Google Books] ] in Gray's 1985 short story anthology "Lean Tales ", co-written with James Kelman andAgnes Owens . He was also among those whose profile as visual artists Gray attempted to raise in his collaborative "5 Scottish Artists" exhibition in 1986. ["The Arts of Alasdair Gray", Robert Crawford, Thom Nairn, Edinburgh University Press, 1991, ISBN 0748602941 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&docId=49035355 Questia] ]Exhibitions
*"5 Scottish Artists' Retrospective Show" -
McLellan Art Galleries ,Glasgow , andTalbot Rice Art Centre ,Edinburgh , 1986
*"Alasdair Taylor, a Retrospective" -Harbour Arts Centre , Irvine, 2007References
External links
* [http://alasdairgray.blogspot.com/2006/07/alasdair-taylor-painter-travelling.html Alasdair Gray's blog]
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