Fraser Taylor is a Glasgow based interdisciplinary visual artist whose studio practice is rooted in drawing. Images occupy a space between figuration and abstraction and two and three dimensions. Ideas are motivated by material investigations and conceptually explore issues of the body, land, and spatial representations of personal history, loss and recovery. Strategies manifest into a range of singular or collaborative projects including sculptural installations, set design, print media, film and painting. In 2001 Taylor was appointed Visiting Artist in the Department of Fibre and Material Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His relocation to Chicago allowed him to reexamine his practice and explore new ways of making. Taylor decided to remove the thing that his work was dependent on, colour. The emotional, physical and graphic weight of black became his focus for the next ten years.
In 2010 he collaborated with Chicago based contemporary dance company The Seldoms. Director and choreographer Carrie Hanson was interested in Taylor’s animation and sculptural work. Together they presented Marchland at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. The dimensions of the stage allowed Taylor to consider and construct work on a scale that traditional galleries would not permit. In 2013 he collaborated with Rashaun Mitchell on Interface which was staged at the Baryshnikov Art Centre, New York. This project explored the psychology behind movement and the origins of emotion. The large format silkscreen printed set for Interface was incorporated by video artist and film director Charles Atlas into a performance/film Tesseract in 2017. In the summer of 2017 The Seldoms came to Glasgow to work with Taylor developing a project titled Toolbox which examined how to translate visual art tactics to choreographed tactics, and vice versa. The week long intensive collaboration took place at The Workroom, Tramway and the Studio Pavilion, House for an Art Lover. The Making, a completed strand of this collaboration, was staged later that year at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, Chicago. In 2018 the Ambassador Theatre Group and Scottish Opera commissioned Taylor to make a sculptural installation to mark the 150th Anniversary of Theatre Royal Glasgow. The sculpture’s seven components were inspired by a series of drawings the artist made from observing the Theatre Royal’s auditorium, foyer spaces, dramatic spiral staircase, rehearsals and performances. Look and Look Again reflects the many ways that audiences move through and around the Theatre Royal, enjoying multiple vantage points and vistas, and the building’s contrasting architectural styles which provide a wealth of images, forms, shapes and patterns. The components are mobile and embrace the idea of being both the observer and the observed.
Fraser Taylor studied Printed Textiles at Glasgow School of Art and The Royal College of Art. In 1983 he co-founded The Cloth a collective of four who established a studio in London to enable them to engage in projects in fine art and Design. Since 1983 he has exhibited internationally. As an educator he has lectured at leading fine art and design institutions. In 2017 he was awarded an Honorary Professorship from Glasgow School of Art, University of Glasgow and co-founded The Textile Collective.
Fraser Taylor : STAGE
Fraser Taylor is a Glasgow based interdisciplinary visual artist whose studio practice is rooted in drawing. Images occupy a space between figuration and abstraction and two and three dimensions. Ideas are motivated by material investigations and conceptually explore issues of the body, land, and spatial representations of personal history, loss and recovery. Strategies manifest into a range of singular or collaborative projects including sculptural installations, set design, print media, film and painting. In 2001 Taylor was appointed Visiting Artist in the Department of Fibre and Material Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His relocation to Chicago allowed him to reexamine his practice and explore new ways of making. Taylor decided to remove the thing that his work was dependent on, colour. The emotional, physical and graphic weight of black became his focus for the next ten years.
In 2010 he collaborated with Chicago based contemporary dance company The Seldoms. Director and choreographer Carrie Hanson was interested in Taylor’s animation and sculptural work. Together they presented Marchland at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. The dimensions of the stage allowed Taylor to consider and construct work on a scale that traditional galleries would not permit. In 2013 he collaborated with Rashaun Mitchell on Interface which was staged at the Baryshnikov Art Centre, New York. This project explored the psychology behind movement and the origins of emotion. The large format silkscreen printed set for Interface was incorporated by video artist and film director Charles Atlas into a performance/film Tesseract in 2017. In the summer of 2017 The Seldoms came to Glasgow to work with Taylor developing a project titled Toolbox which examined how to translate visual art tactics to choreographed tactics, and vice versa. The week long intensive collaboration took place at The Workroom, Tramway and the Studio Pavilion, House for an Art Lover. The Making, a completed strand of this collaboration, was staged later that year at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, Chicago. In 2018 the Ambassador Theatre Group and Scottish Opera commissioned Taylor to make a sculptural installation to mark the 150th Anniversary of Theatre Royal Glasgow. The sculpture’s seven components were inspired by a series of drawings the artist made from observing the Theatre Royal’s auditorium, foyer spaces, dramatic spiral staircase, rehearsals and performances. Look and Look Again reflects the many ways that audiences move through and around the Theatre Royal, enjoying multiple vantage points and vistas, and the building’s contrasting architectural styles which provide a wealth of images, forms, shapes and patterns. The components are mobile and embrace the idea of being both the observer and the observed.
Fraser Taylor studied Printed Textiles at Glasgow School of Art and The Royal College of Art. In 1983 he co-founded The Cloth a collective of four who established a studio in London to enable them to engage in projects in fine art and Design. Since 1983 he has exhibited internationally. As an educator he has lectured at leading fine art and design institutions. In 2017 he was awarded an Honorary Professorship from Glasgow School of Art, University of Glasgow and co-founded The Textile Collective.