Day time moon
Howard TAYLOR: artist
Day time moon was made in response to a challenge Talyor gave to himself - to capture the immaterial effects of reflected sunlight. The work took the better part of a year to complete as he wrestled with this subject. The subject, like so many others, came directly from the world around him, something glimpsed only briefly while driving to Northcliffe - a full moon obscured behind a slightly overcast sky seen during the day. Everyday epiphanies like this underscore Taylor's pictorial approach to painting. As he put it: "Suns and moons as subjects are increasingly rewarding as structural problems - what one can do with the movement, light, atmosphere within the flat surface of the panel or canvas. Avoidance of associational and symbolic attachments is absolutely necessary. In my case the pictorial side is not expressionist or emotively inspired." The richness of Howard Taylor's observations of the natural world enhance our perceptions; they draw you in and captivate you with the sheer visual pleasure of colour and surface. In Day time moon it is the combination of the opacity of the broad final brush strokes being influenced by the coloured underpainting that creates an analogy for the perception of light reflected against a pale sky. Of equivalent importance are the contrasting textures and individuated brushstrokes used to create an effect called halation where both light and colour appear to spread beyond any identifiable boundary. Taylor's paintings offer little surprises, introducing you anew to, or re-acquainting you with, the recollections of a colour specific to a particular locale or an object illuminated in the forest or against the sky. Equally, Taylor's works never separate spectators from confronting the intimate and immediate evidence of how a picture is made. His comment from 1998, "We depend so deeply on our experience of nature and the experience of others with it. It is the basis of our visual perception and the principles of design." speaks of a pragmatism that reveals poetry to those willing to be attentive.
Title
Day time moon
Artist/Maker and role
Howard TAYLOR: artist
Date
1997
Medium
oil and synthetic polymer paint on plywood
Measurements
120 x 141 cm (sight)
Credit line
Gift of the Friends of the Art Gallery in honour of Judy Hughes, 1997
© Howard Taylor 1997
The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Accession number
1997/0143