Art of Dan W. Taylor: Waiting for Spring

Artist Statement

I’m not a painter…

In spite of the fact that you are viewing many of my works, which are primarily created using oil paints, I don’t consider myself a painter. I think of myself as a communicator, like a speechwriter, newspaper reporter, orator, or even in some aspects, a politician. I compose my ideas and try to present them in a manner that others can experience the way I feel while creating the composition. But where a speechwriter or reporter uses words to ply their trade, I am an artist, therefore I use the language of imagery to state my feelings and opinions. This imagery may vary from photography, to painting with realism, to figurative abstract, or even involve elements of found-object collage and assemblage. It may also vary from simple emotions like joy and contentment to more complex feelings such as fear, love and sadness. It is the process of communicating my ideas that is important more than the media used. In fact, it is the creative process of the communication that is important to me. While I am working on a piece, I am emotionally tied to it to the point of distraction. It becomes the sole focus of what I am doing. However, when I bring a piece to completion, the emotional attachment dissolves. I don’t feel the post partum effect that some artists talk about as much as I feel as though I’ve committed a captured moment of my essence and released it to the ether. The way a spoken word floats ever outward into space.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Waiting for Spring

Waiting for Spring - Germantown Ohio

I continue to add new works to my sale site, http://taylorstudio.ecrater.com such as this piece.

This is part of a series of photographs of local benches in the winter snow. One happened to catch my eye as I was taking a winter walk and I was taken by the loneliness that it conveyed. This series brings not only that sense of desolation but also a bit of comfort supplied by their permanence and knowing that they will be there waiting at the first warm day of spring.