A Little Chat with Kevin E. Taylor.

Kevin Earl Taylor talks with me about his newest piece, Cenotaph. It's a beautiful 96in by 64in two panel piece painted in oil. He's been working on it over the past month and I was interested to hear what his inspiration was behind the piece.

Cenotaph will show at Guerrero Gallery tomorrow night in Weight Perception a group show curated by Andrew Schoultz. Opening reception on July 17th from 6-11, food and live music will be happening! Show goes through August 7th.

Tell me about your latest piece, Cenotaph for Weight Perception at Guerrero Gallery.

Basically, it has to do with this exploration into the chasm of things worshiping other things. I grew up in the bible belt and i know all that bible shit. I know it, sure, but it was always like reading the funny papers. I tried to believe that stuff, but it was just so...unbelievable. Through painting, I can have fun with it and play with the essence of things.  It's pretty neat to turn a shark into God. Now it will be even neater to see what people think about that.

Would you say your paintings often have a spiritual under theme, or is Cenotaph a new exploration of that?

Not really, it's just something that's been coming up here and there lately. Actually, I've been working in a couple very different directions lately and when Andrew [Schoultz] invited me to be in Weight Perception, he mentioned "those religious paintings you've been doing". I was happy to consciously explore that realm, since it had been more of a phantom theme to me. I do like the idea of very diverse elements connecting within a visual plane through some sort of hierarchy of worship. It's a food chain of those who eat souls.

What is a Cenotaph?

It's basically a tomb or monument built for something whose remains can't be found or physically categorized. Like a tomb for all the people who died on a sinking ship or a tomb for someone lost at sea.

I know that at times it's hard to 'explain' ones work, as in terms of imagery or what drives a subject in a piece, however...could you try and explain a little bit about the structures/architectures that appear in many of your paintings? What are they & where have they originated from?

I came up with that subconsciously. It just felt right. Later, after sitting with it, I realized that I see things like that: things are  built and not created. These images take place at a time when the scales are tipped. A point when technology and ecology come to a head. They are a vision into the not so distant future when humans attempts to build nature without realizing that they actually are nature. These abandoned, unfinished structures serve as monuments to our idiocy and neglect, while simultaneously signifying our extinction.