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, February 2, 2010

Alektorophobia
oil on canvas
30 x 48 inches
copyright Dan W. Taylor 2009


This painting was created specifically for a show that took place on Friday November 13, 2009 at The Vex in Dayton, Ohio. The theme of the show was 'phobias'. Participants needed to pre register in order to prevent duplication. I chose Alektorophobia, partly because when I ran across this in my research of phobias, I didn't realize that it even had a name! My original intent was to do this piece from the standpoint of a hen that suffered from the malady. I did, however, want to amp up the amount of horror that the victim was feeling and decided that by adding the human element, this would be better served. I think that it would be more difficult for the viewer to discern the depth of fear if it was being shown on the face and beak of a chicken.

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