Background
Henry Taylor was born in 1958 in Ventura, California, United States. He is the youngest of eight brothers and sisters. His father was employed as a painter by the United States Navy.
California Institute of the Arts, Santa Clarita, California, United States
In 1995 Henry Taylor received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts.
Oxnard College, Oxnard, California, United States
Henry Taylor studied art at Oxnard College.
2015
One Santa Fe, Los Angeles, California, United States
(L-R) Artist Henry Taylor, producer Quincy Jones, and pianist Alfredo Rodriguez attend the Parachute Market "AD HOC" Seasonal Design Fair, A Meditation On The Temporary at One Santa Fe on June 5, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Michael Buckner
2017
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, United States
Artists Henry Taylor and Deana Lawson attend the Tiffany & Co. presents Whitney Biennial VIP Opening Night at The Whitney Museum of American Art on March 15, 2017, in New York City. Photo by Jamie McCarthy
2017
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, United States
Saxohonist Kamasi Washington and Artist Henry Taylor attend the Tiffany & Co. present the Whitney Biennial VIP Opening at The Whitney Museum of American Art on March 15, 2017 in New York City. Photo by Mike Coppola
2019
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, 30133 Venezia VE, Italy
Artist Henry Taylor attends the 58th International Art Biennale in Venice - Dinner Gala at 'Fondazione Cini, Isola Di San Giorgio' on May 08, 2019, in Venice, Italy. Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff
2015
One Santa Fe, Los Angeles, California, United States
(L-R) Artist Henry Taylor, producer Quincy Jones, and pianist Alfredo Rodriguez attend the Parachute Market "AD HOC" Seasonal Design Fair, A Meditation On The Temporary at One Santa Fe on June 5, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Michael Buckner
2017
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, United States
Artists Henry Taylor and Deana Lawson attend the Tiffany & Co. presents Whitney Biennial VIP Opening Night at The Whitney Museum of American Art on March 15, 2017, in New York City. Photo by Jamie McCarthy
2017
The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, United States
Saxohonist Kamasi Washington and Artist Henry Taylor attend the Tiffany & Co. present the Whitney Biennial VIP Opening at The Whitney Museum of American Art on March 15, 2017 in New York City. Photo by Mike Coppola
2019
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, 30133 Venezia VE, Italy
Artist Henry Taylor attends the 58th International Art Biennale in Venice - Dinner Gala at 'Fondazione Cini, Isola Di San Giorgio' on May 08, 2019, in Venice, Italy. Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff
California Institute of the Arts, Santa Clarita, California, United States
In 1995 Henry Taylor received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts.
Oxnard College, Oxnard, California, United States
Henry Taylor studied art at Oxnard College.
2011
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2019
Henry Taylor was born in 1958 in Ventura, California, United States. He is the youngest of eight brothers and sisters. His father was employed as a painter by the United States Navy.
Henry Taylor studied art at Oxnard College under James Jarvaise, who introduced him to the work of Willem de Kooning and Jean Dubuffet. In 1995 he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts.
Henry Taylor worked for ten years as a psychiatric technician at Camarillo State Mental Hospital, where, during off-hours, he would paint portraits of patients with a nuanced approach to their inner lives. In 1997 he retired. Since the late nineties, Taylor has worked prolifically and vigorously, often turning to furniture, crates and cereal boxes as experimental canvases for his portraiture.
In many ways, his work functions as a critical lens through which to view black life in America, both past and future. He often collapses historical periods. In his 2017 Cicely and Miles Visit the Obamas, which features an image of the young Cicely Tyson and Miles Davis (based on an original photograph of the couple at the premiere of Tyson’s 1968 film The Heart is a Lonely Hunter), transported to the Obama’s White House in a celebration of two power couples that enormously influenced their eras.
Taylor’s paintings and sculptures are often constructed in a frenetic manner with partial gestures, half-phrases or incomplete figures painted on surfaces as varied as cigarette packs, cereal and beer boxes, or suitcases. Recently Taylor has begun collecting emptied Clorox bleach bottles, which when spray painted black and inverted on broomsticks take the form of African tribal masks or dancing statues.
In 2012, Taylor's work was the subject of a solo museum exhibition at MoMA PS1 in New York where he turned the gallery space into a studio. Taylor was included in the 2017 Whitney Biennial, where he received critical acclaim for five new paintings that confront the increasingly visible racial tensions between law enforcement and the communities they serve. He lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
Henry Taylor is best known for his portrait paintings, though he also works with sculpture and mixed media installations. He has been the subject of multiple solo exhibitions at the Studio Museum in Harlem, Blum & Poe in Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Museum of Art.
In 2018 he was awarded the Robert De Niro, Sr. Prize for his contributions in the field of painting. His works are held in the collections of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, among others.
Dakar, Senegal #5
2019Dakar, Senegal #4
2019Dakar, Senegal #3
2019Dakar, Senegal #11
2019L. W. Robinson
2014Noah
2011Haitian Cemetery
2014A young master
2017Emory: shoulda been a phd but society made him homeless
2017A sit down Niema
2017Resting
2011Cicely and Miles Visit the Obamas
2017Untitled
2019Chris
2004Chocolate Lover
2006Miss Kelley
2010Sailor
2009Adam Janes
2011Matt Siegle
2011Henry Taylor's works make careful reference to the history of art and the works of artists such as Alice Neel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Henri Matisse, Francisco Goya, Diego Velazquez and Jacob Lawrence.
