NICOLA TAYLOR

A WORLD WITHOUT COLLISIONS

5 August - 20 August 2010

Everard Read Johannesburg takes pleasure in inviting you to view this collection of work by Nicola Taylor.

Everard Read hopes that you will join us and enjoy viewing this wonderful exhibition.

All works of art for sale by appointment prior to 5 August 2010.

The group exhibition opens on THURSDAY 5 AUGUST 2010 at 6.00 pm EXHIBITION CONCLUDES 20 AUGUST 2010

To arrange a preview, kindly contact the gallery on 011 788 4805

Gallery Hours: Monday to Friday 9am–6pm, Saturday 9am–1pm


Click here to view Nicola Taylor´s website

A World Without Collisions

Nicola Taylor is a talented young painter with vibrant and captivating work inspired both by busy Johannesburg and the Tsitsikamma rainforests, creating a duality of two forests that lay thousands of kilometers apart. Situated in a Fordsburg studio, with a breathtaking view of the majestic city skyline, the artist is surrounded by enormous flocks of pigeons and the interesting local characters that inspire her daily. With striking portraits and detailed depictions of her surroundings, Taylor works mainly in the medium of oil painting.

Taylor has been inspired by South Africa and has been working prolifically since arriving back from London. Her work tells of her being “pleasantly struck by the very familiar and unique charisma and energy in South Africa - its people and our environment.” She loves the way that it literally buzzes with diversity.

The title of the exhibition is a quote from Athol Fugard´s play “Master Harold....And The Boys”. The work is inspired by the question of whether ´A World Without Collisions´ exists or could exist and how. It is about state of both mind and soul. Taylor believes that collisions occur when we let our fears determine our actions.

These ideas have come out in the work under three subthemes that fundamentally overlap- birds in flight, the people and the place where we live. To her, the birds in flight echo the spirit and energy in South Africa and Jo’burg. She has spent hours observing them in Fordsburg where they gather by the hundreds in a courtyard close to her studio.

What drives Nicola Taylor to paint is the beauty she sees in everyday occurrences, as she feels that it reaffirms our common experience of life.

Nicola Taylor was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1984. She studied painting in Florence, Italy at the Scuola Lorenzo De Medici in 2003. “Italy was where I first felt and experienced my intense dedication to painting. I painted all day and hid upstairs when the guard locked up at night so that I could carry on painting until late in the evening.”

She spent the following three years completing a Bachelors Degree in Commerce; majoring in philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Cape Town. She simultaneously worked on numerous art commissions. She also studied practical philosophy part-time while at UCT, which contributed to the theory behind her work and subject selection.

She moved to London after completing her undergraduate degree in Cape Town and studied painting at The Art Academy in Southwark, taught by some of the celebrated UK contemporary artists such as James Lloyd and Brendon Kelly. She graduated with a first class merit from the academy in July 2009, an extraordinary achievement. “I had an amazingly positive experience there,” she says, “but I think it was because I knew what I wanted to get out of it.” Almost her entire graduate show sold out.

While in London she exhibited at Art in Action with artists from all over the UK. Taylor states that “it´s a bit like a music festival for artists”. She also exhibited work at the Art Academy Graduate Show 2009 and at the Royal Institute of Great Britain with artists like Anish Kapor, Paula Rego, Cornelia Parker and Howard Hodgkin who also showed work for the charity auction. Her painting fetched a sum over double the initial bidding price. Taylor tutored evening painting classes at The Art Academy during her studies which she insists were integral to her own education, development as an artist and her artistic process. “Teaching students is one of the best ways to learn about your own work and medium. It brings a whole new level of self awareness and analysis that may have taken years to come by.”

In July of 2009, Taylor was selected as a resident artist of Tower Bridge in London for the project SEE an Artist, BE an Artist, commissioned by the Guy Fox History Project Limited, a British educational charity. She was located in a studio at the top of the bridge, where she painted the views of London for six weeks in full view of the public. The residency was followed by a show at Tower Bridge.

Taylor returned to South Africa at the end of 2009 to begin a new body of work for her first solo exhibition, A World Without Collisions, at the Everard Read Gallery Johannesburg, which opens 5 August 2010.