Janice tayler
“My mixed media compositions are made of oil paint, newspaper and sand. They refer directly to urban decay and the environment. I maintain that only through abstraction can the viewer tap into their unconscious and access the sublime in their imagination.
In the past I created a body of work concentrating on contrasting textures such as cardboard, plastic, cigarette butts, twine, earth, sand nail clippings, pieces of bark and twigs. In my present body of work I use images from photographs and drawings of the devastation of the urban landscape from natural and manmade disasters, architectural skeletal structures such as unfinished construction or demolished sites, partly finished bridges, abandoned and decaying industrial sites. These images I juxtapose with images of organic, abstracted rocks, roots, trees and water.
I loosely base my compositions on that of classical landscape painting with the positioning of forms carefully placed to present a harmonious, balanced and timeless visual aesthetic. In my palette choices I explore color combinations that are unexpected in contrast with those found in nature.
I maintain that by portraying landscape in a representational state, we are removing ourselves from it and merely idealizing it. Therefore, by engaging and challenging the viewer through the distortion of landscape painting, the viewer can reach a state of the sublime.
These abstract landscapes embody both serenity and instability, resulting in a dreamlike tension from which subjective narratives can be born. I create pieces that consciously allow for open interpretation and multiple perspectives. They reflect a search for meaning in unfamiliar landscapes.”
-Janice Tayler