Participating Artist(s): Dan Taylor

Press Release

​The Venvi Art Gallery is pleased to present “Color Chaos: New Abstractions,” a series of oil paintings by Dan Taylor, will open on First Friday, April 5, from 5 to 8 p.m. A four-time winner of the “People’s Choice Award” at Big Bend Cares’s Artopia, Taylor’s paintings have been admired for their spontaneity and vibrant colors and shown at many local venues.
 
Since 2001, Taylor has been deeply involved in the city’s nonprofit arts community. A graduate of Leadership Tallahassee, Taylor chairs the board of directors at Big Bend Cares and sits on the boards of both COCA and the LeMoyne Art Foundation. Taylor has found inspiration in his charity work, which has “revealed so many artists… working for the greater good.” As an artist, Taylor is similarly motivated by a desire to bring “good” and “joy” into the world.       
 
Taylor began painting eight years ago and has largely been self-taught through trial and error. Following the lead of the masters, he worked with oil paints from the start, even as he now admits acrylics may have been a better choice for a beginner. He has experimented with other mediums, such as jewelry and sculpture, but he says painting “allows for the broadest and deepest self-expression.” With paint, he can be “free” and “chaotic.” 

“Color Chaos” highlights two sources of drama or “chaos” in Taylor’s paintings: color and texture. Though he primarily uses a palette knife to apply paint to canvas, Taylor has also on occasion repurposed everyday household items, such as straws and bottle caps. His atypical methods, inspired in part by Jackson Pollock, result in unusual textures and a palpable dynamism. In Emerald Sea, for example, Taylor uses overlapping, thick daubs of emerald green paint to suggest the movement of water. The distinct tactile difference between these visible brushstrokes and splashes of blue, pink, and yellow add another layer of conflict.

​​Taylor’s works are not the result of calculation or storytelling, however, but rather spring from a sudden impulse to paint. Color palettes he sees in nature often serve as catalysts. As he explains, the “vivid memory of a Mexico Beach sunset, the intense yellow and oranges of roadside wildflowers, [and] volcanic eruptions” are among the images that have inspired him. In the case of Eruption, one of his most accomplished works, Taylor overlays a dark midnight blue and black background with vertical splatters of canary yellow, gold, orange, and peach. Without attempting to represent it realistically, Taylor has captured the power and stunning visuals of a volcanic eruption through a creative color scheme.
 
“Color Chaos” in addition to April 5, 5-8 first Friday art opening, the show will be on display April 5 – May 18, at the Venvi Art Gallery, located at 2901 East Park Avenue, and can be viewed during regular gallery hours. For information about the gallery, upcoming shows, hours of operation, and directions, please visit https://www.venviartgallery.com or call (850) 322-0965.