Alan Taylor

Riding a volcano – cult art by Alan Taylor

Alan Taylor completed his training as graphic designer at the Sunday Times while studying art and design at the Camberwell College of Arts in London. He has been living and working as a freelance artist in S'Arracó, a village in the west of Majorca since 1998. His works are currently being exhibited in galleries both in London and Majorca.

What makes Alan Taylor’s work so special? The highly-gifted artist invariably succeeds in creating new, unusual perspectives. His compositions compel the viewer to focus on seemingly minor details that have been extracted from the wider sensory impression and gain significance in their own right. In these works, details represent the entirety. The viewer’s imagination provides the final touch. Details seem more intensive and somehow easier to reach. The artist uses these perspectives to bring the observer closer to his subject. This creates a tension that mysteriously captures the observer’s attention.

Alan Taylor’s coloristic pictures from earlier creative phases show the same kind of visual guidance. In the course of his artistic development, he has constantly scaled down his use of colour and has now reached a point where his works comprise variegated grey tones only. So as far as use of colour is concerned, he has progressed in a similar direction as in his compositions. In the same way that he focuses on details, as explained above, he reduces colour to a contrast between light and dark.  

The portraits he completed last year already show how his depiction of the portrayed person is intensified by this artistic decision. Such methods are even more impressive when the subject stands out on account of its material effect on the observer. The idea of giving certain materials a tangible sensuality by presenting them visually is not new to the world of art and is a method already used by Jan van Eyk (1390-1441) and Rogier van der Weyden (1400-1464). In modern art, it was the magic realists who were particularly fascinated by this possibility and passed on this fascination to their viewers.

In his current cycle, Alan Taylor has turned his attention to a cult object which is perhaps the most striking example of speed, power and daring: the motorbike. Alan Taylor’s drawing of the Harley-Davidson machine bears witness to the obvious passion he has for his subject.  This technically elaborate vehicle lends itself perfectly to metallic light-dark contrasts. Light reflects thousandfold on the shiny, silver-coloured engine and makes gaps and grooves between the motor parts seen darker and deeper than they really are. His affinity to such details clearly shows that the artist admires not only the technical architecture, but also the harmonic design of the vehicle – an admiration which finds its ultimate impression in the lettering of the brand name.

It is evident from the pictures of people who identify with the Harley cult that Taylor not only wanted to show the actual motorbike in this Harley cycle. The “oneness“ of these people with their machine manifests itself in their clothing and headwear. The leather gear accentuates the aura of masculinity which seems to be a dominant issue for both male and female motorcyclists alike. The determined look which can be felt emanating from beneath the dark sunglasses shows the courage and dare-devil spirit required to steer the enormous power of these machines in the right direction.

Dr. Helmut Orpel