Artwork: The river 2018
Artist: Michael Taylor
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 91 x 152cm
Acquisition: An acquisition of the ACT Legislative Assembly Art Advisory Committee, 2019
Asset no: OLA002033
About the Work
Taylor’s work treads a narrow and fertile ground between pure abstraction and representation, with much emphasis on the materiality of paint and the gesture of painting. Taylor’s focus is on the landscape especially near where he lives in the Monaro. Taylor first moved to the Canberra region in the early 1970s and has lived in the region since 1995.
About the Artist
Taylor is a highly respected senior artist working in the Canberra region. He was one of the generation of painters trained in the 1950s (East Sydney Technical School 1949-53) and practitioners of an Abstract Impressionist style. Like near contemporaries Dick Watkins and John Olsen, Taylor's work treads a narrow and fertile ground between pure abstraction and representation, with much emphasis on the materiality of paint and the gesture of painting. Taylor's focus is on the landscape especially near where he lives in the Monaro.
He was the subject of a major solo survey exhibition at CMAG in late 2016. His work is held in important collections including the National Gallery of Australia, all state and regional galleries, as well as university galleries, and corporate and private collections.