Johnny Taylor -- Everything In The World Has Changed

Now Showing in our Marfa gallery!

 

 

 Johnny Taylor, from Memphis/Santa Fe/Austin, has painted a whole bunch of new work for this, his first solo show at Yard Dog.  If you can't make it to Marfa, check it out right here on the web.

 

OPENING RECEPTION

7 - 9 PM

Yard Dog Marfa

106 East San Antonio St

Marfa, TX 79843

432-729-3303

 

 

A short interview with Johnny:

Where do you live?

Good question. During my most recent stint as a full time painter I've lived an itinerant lifestyle, renting work and living space short term in places that interest and inspire me. For the moment I am living in Lamy, NM, population 137, about 20 miles south of Santa Fe. This is my fifth (but not my last) address this year. From here I'll be heading back home to Memphis for the Fall and Winter months. Most of the time I'll up and move to any place where I can be most productive. Good sunlight and mild weather are important in this regard.

I would describe my art as Neo-Pop, with street and folk art elements.I work primarily with acrylics on canvas. Collage, oil pastel and silk screen are usually in the mix as well.

Usually I start out with a canvas or wood panel painted completely black. I then add large, hard edged blocks or color in a manner somewhere between 70's color field painting and traditional Southern quilt making. Next come quick, gestural marks akin to graffiti tagging along with a layer of silk screened text or ornamental elements. The more intricate, 'busy' layers are then varnished and painted over, with bits of the previous layer left visible. More marks and patterned 'noise' are added and more sections are painted over. Often up to 30 layers are built up in this fashion until I find the right mix of carefully applied blocks, loose 'automatic' marks and the many happy accidents that this process yields.

The final element added is most often a forthright, flat two color design. When I'm not actually painting I'm looking around for simple designs of animals, vehicles and people. Lately I find that I'm drawn to bygone ephemera, images that in their time were unambiguous and convey an economy of expression. In a contemporary context most of my current imagery all seem to share what's described as "the ache of nostalgia".Making art and putting it in front of as many people as possible is my way of engaging the world. Painting is my way of sharing the things that bring me joy and wonder with the world around me.
Music: I like Otis Redding, Prince, Yoko Ono, Thelonius Monk, Al Green, T Rex, Captain Beefheart, Amon Tobin, Kraftwerk, Howlin Wolf, Black Sabbath, Curtis Mayfield, Lee Perry, James Brown, pre-synthesizer ZZ Top. I still think "Exile on Main Street" is the high water mark of western civilization.

Books: The last book I read was "Sandy Koufax- A Lefty's Legacy". Anything by Don Delillo, particularly "Underworld". I like baseball stat geek Bill James' stuff, especially his "Historical Baseball Abstract". Most Philip Roth. Gabriel Garcia Marquez- "One Hundred Years of Solitude" has been a big influence on my painting. James Joyce. Some Thomas Pynchon. Oh, and lots of trashy biographies, too.

Movies: I see about 2 or 3 movies a week and that could be anything from an obscure foreign flick to the latest megaplex fare. "My Winnepeg", "Man on Wire" (sublime), anything by Billy Wilder, "The Big Lebowski", "Chinatown", anything by Mike Nichols, "The Warriors".

TV: I'm currently working my way through the final seasons of "The Wire" and "Deadwood". I watch a lot of TV when I can.

 

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