ELAINETAYLORART

Throughout my artistic life there are several common threads: a call to the viewer to be aware of their surroundings, whether physical, social or geopolitical; a need to re-use and recycle; and a love of the minimal, best represented by the use of the circle or line.

 

Although my artwork is not blatantly political, it has been described as “subversive.” In some pieces, I try to draw attention to the physical space the work inhabits. My current work involves taking a photograph of a location, having that digital photograph printed and mounted, and then placing that photograph back in the site so that it overlaps and intersects the site, acting as an echo, a filter, or a place-marker for the original. The viewer must interact with the photo and the site, replacing the artist in the location in order to see the artwork as intended.

 

Other work, usually on a darker note, may comment on something in the social or political scene that has come to goad me to the point that I must manifest my discomfort in an actual artwork. Media is unimportant at this point, as I will use anything that speaks to and satisfies that discomfort.

 

Regardless of the intent of the artwork, a lot of my art involves reclaiming or reusing material, in particular wood in its natural state. Paired with stone, sometimes with text, these works satisfy a deep need in me to connect to the earth. While I will happily use new materials and be thoughtlessly selfish as to harm to the environment if necessary for an artwork, I do try to be more thoughtful as a rule.

 

I’ve worked with circles, spheres and spirals for almost 30 years.  To me, the circle represents the infinite in the largest sense.  And yet these shapes also carry baggage from the intimate personal interpretation of each viewer. 

 

In a continuation of a long tradition of sculptors, I have explored various methods of drawing and painting as studies and as an outlet on their own that is not satisfied by the limitations of sculpture.  These works spring from and prepare for the works in three dimensions.  They feed each other and allow me to work out the visual dilemmas that would otherwise be trapped in my mind.