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''''Alasdair Grant Taylor''' (1934 &ndash; 2007) was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] [[artist]] and [[sculptor]]. == Life == Alasdair Taylor was born in [[Ross-shire]] and trained as an artist at the [[Glasgow School of Art]], subsequently living in [[Denmark]] and [[Glasgow]]. In 1967 he moved to [[Portencross]], [[Ayrshire]], where he lived reclusively with his wife Annelise and their daughters Anna and Jean.<ref name=loop19>[http://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/na/Arts&Culture.nsf/0c624c0bb4c5be1b80256d98004a443d/cb85e7369ac5069080256ee0003f0860/$FILE/LOOP%2019%20-%20for%20web.pdf The Loop], North Ayrshire's Cultural Magazine, #19, Summer 2007</ref> In March 2005 he suffered a stroke and had to leave his home.<ref name=herald>[http://www.ardrossanherald.com/article.php?sec=1&id=10689 Artist suffers stroke], ''Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald'', February 23, 2006</ref> He died in 2007. == Work == {{Unreferenced section|date=August 2007}} He made his mumswold breakfast in bed, but his mummy did not like it and he was often locked up in chains for days at a time without food or water. Taylor's formative influences included the [[COBRA (avant-garde movement)|COBRA]] group in [[Denmark]], especially [[Asger Jorn]], whom his wife knew. "ALASDAIR NO! I DONT WANT BREAKFAST IN BED, GET IN THE CHAINS!" In most of his [[oil painting]]s before the mid-1960s, the paint is thickly applied. After this time, he used oil more thinly. There are extremes of colour from bright to sombre. His nude drawings and paintings of nudes are mostly of his wife. His collages used [[photographs]] and newspaper cuttings combined with brush strokes, influenced by [[Dadaism]] and early [[Cubism]]. He made [[Abstract art|abstract]] oil paintings with brush, [[palette knife]], [[spray can]] and other techniques: some of these are intended to be hung in groups and named after the seasons. Sculptures were created from [[driftwood]] which Taylor collected from the [[beach]] near [[Portencross]], then carved and partly painted or [[varnish]]ed. He made use of stones similarly. He filled notebooks with ideas mingled with sketches in pen or [[watercolour]] and did ink drawings on the blank pages of art books he had been given. The [[Scottish Arts Council]] has given a grant to Street Level Photoworks to catalogue and digitise Taylor's work. ==Alasdair Gray and James Kelman== Taylor's work is the subject of an ongoing promotion by his friends [[Alasdair Gray]] and [[James Kelman]] to raise it out of obscurity that they argue is undeserved.<ref name=herald/><ref>[http://alasdairgray.blogspot.com/2006/07/alasdair-taylor-painter-travelling.html Alasdair Taylor, Painter: Travelling Exhibition 2007-2009], Alasdair Gray, weblog, July 6, 2006</ref> Taylor also featured in ''Portrait of a painter'', "the story of an artist ... who persists in his painting though he remains unrecognized and unrewarded",<ref>''World Authors 1980-1985'', Vineta Colby, H. W. Wilson, 1991, ISBN 0-8242-0797-1 [http://www.google.co.uk/books?q=%22Lean+Tales%22+%22Alasdair+Taylor%22&btnG=Search+Books Google Books]</ref> in Gray's 1985 short story anthology ''[[Lean Tales]]'', co-written with James Kelman and [[Agnes Owens]]. He was also among those whose profile as visual artists Gray attempted to raise in his collaborative ''5 Scottish Artists'' exhibition in 1986.<ref>''The Arts of Alasdair Gray'', Robert Crawford, Thom Nairn, Edinburgh University Press, 1991, ISBN 0-7486-0294-1 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&docId=49035355 Questia]</ref> ''The Two Alasdairs'' was an exhibition which ran at the Glasgow School of Art's Mackintosh Gallery from 22 November 2008 to 10 January 2009. It celebrated the art of Alasdair Gray and Alasdair Taylor, and their long friendship. The exhibition included a [[television]] [[interview]] with Taylor by [[BBC Scotland]]'s [[W. Gordon Smith]] (in the [[arts]] [[TV series]] "Scope" in 1974). == Exhibitions == *''5 Scottish Artists' Retrospective Show'' - [[McLellan Art Galleries]], [[Glasgow]], and [[Talbot Rice Art Centre]], [[Edinburgh]], 1986 *''Alasdair Taylor, a Retrospective'' - [[Harbour Arts Centre]], [[Irvine, North Ayrshire|Irvine]], 2007 *''The Two Alasdairs: Alasdair Gray & Alasdair Taylor'' - [[Mackintosh Gallery]], [[Glasgow School of Art]], November 2008 to January 2009 ==References== {{reflist}} == External links == *[http://alasdairgray.blogspot.com/2006/07/alasdair-taylor-painter-travelling.html Alasdair Gray's blog] *[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_/ai_n31053938 Review of ''The Two Alasdairs'' by Barry Didcock in the [[Sunday Herald]], 30 Nov 2008] *[http://living.scotsman.com/visual-arts/Art-review-Echo-and-Transcend.4807922.jp Review of ''The Two Alasdairs'' by Duncan Macmillan in [[The Scotsman]], 19 Dec 2008] {{Authority control|VIAF=168753682}} {{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> | NAME = Taylor | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = British artist | DATE OF BIRTH = 1934 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = 2007 | PLACE OF DEATH = }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor}} [[Category:Scottish artists]] [[Category:Scottish painters]] [[Category:Modern artists]] [[Category:British artists]] [[Category:1934 births]] [[Category:2007 deaths]] [[Category:Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art]]'