From Berlin, across the ocean to Melbourne and back again to her town of Raleigh, North Carolina, Taylor White’s internationally acclaimed art once again graces the streets of Richmond as part of this
From Berlin, across the ocean to Melbourne and back again to her town of Raleigh, North Carolina, Taylor White’s internationally acclaimed art once again graces the streets of Richmond as part of this year’s Richmond Mural Project.
And few can forget the controversy after her piece last year which one Carytown business owner called “demonic” and “pornographic”.
“I think that says more about them and what’s going on in their head than what’s going on in mine.” said White when asked about the response just over a year ago.
She said the reaction didn’t intimidate her. She knew the image might have been risky to put up on a wall, but she had no intention of it being so subversive.
Even with last years bad criticism, White was not worried by this year’s RMP. She said she was more conscious of what she was putting on the wall but did not let it make impact what she wanted to express this time around.
“I’m not just going to put naked people up on a giant wall just because I can,” said White, “I want to make sure that the message I send is not necessarily sexual.”
As for this year, she said the community has gone above and beyond to make her feel comfortable. Neighbors brought her water and cookies to make sure she was comfortable in the 100+ temperature weather.
“That was sweet,” said White, “Having people walk by and tell me they liked it always feels good.”
This year’s piece, which can be found at 2614 West Cary Street across from ReCycles, is an immense painting which stretches across five facades and took ten days to paint. Her painting, which can’t be missed because of its size and eye-catching pinks and purples, is the third mural she has done in Richmond.
White’s paintings have been described by the modern art publication Hi Fructose http://hifructose.com/2016/05/30/taylor-whites-latest-series-of-expressive-portraits-of-bodies/ as a “chaotic portrayal of bodies which appear to break apart” and “a bright palette of blues, pinks and purples, colors often associated with the emotion of passion”.
“I describe the human form in a way that conveys emotional concepts rather than concrete thoughts,” she said. “I’m really interested in how forms communicate with one another in space.”
White’s involvement in her local dance community has provided most of the inspiration for her work. Through watching her peers dance she became very interested in how to convey the emotion and movement people express in dance on canvas through her artwork.
The type of dance which White primarily studies is called contact improvisation, a modern dance form which features two dancers who each share a center of contact to create fluid and intertwined movements.
“To get my subject matter I’ll take my models, which are usually friends of mine who are dancers, and I’ll take hundreds and hundreds of photos of them,” she said. “I’ll go through the photos and take bits and pieces out of the photos.”
From there, the artist takes each bit and piece and makes collages out of her photographs which she then uses as a study for her paintings.
“I have folders full of them and then I have this arsenal of materials to work from,” White said.“When a wall or a concept presents itself, I’ll just rearrange the shapes in a way that works on the surface.”
When she was given the pictures and dimensions of the wall for this year’s Richmond Mural Project she started taking her modge podge pictures and planning out her design. But White said everything changes when you get to the wall. Elements which look great on paper do not always translate to a section of wall.
“It’s a lot of problem solving in real time,” said White, “You can do it on a photo but you never really know until you get there exactly how big the wall is or exactly what surface you’re working on.”
She ran into a few problems, such as a power line in her way which forced her to trash the detail she had planned for the front of the building. She said she couldn’t not reach the area without the lift.
“It’s a lot of work but it’s definitely a dance in of itself.” said White.
White’s advice to young people trying to get into the art world is there is no “magic answer” to get you to where you want to be. Instead, jump in and get what you need to get done to get noticed.
“My best advice is don’t sit around and wait for someone to give you advice,” she said. “Do the work and push your shit. Put yourself on social media and get involved in anything you can get involved in.”
