photo-eye Gallery
Magical New Images from Maggie Taylor
Delaney Hoffman
photo-eye Gallery is thrilled to release four new images from represented artist, Maggie Taylor. A master of photomontage, Maggie Taylor's new photographs speak to the importance of the journey, rather than the destination.
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| Maggie Taylor, If I had a boat, 2021, Archival pigment print, 8 x 8″, Edition of 15, $1500 |
This week at photo-eye Gallery, we’re ecstatic to premiere four new images from represented artist
Maggie Taylor.
Maggie Taylor has been making masterful, complicated photomontages for almost 30 years. By working from scans of collected objects and archival images alongside her own photographs, Taylor invents fantastical characters and whimsical scenarios that leave ample room for interpretation while still managing to prioritize aesthetics.
Oftentimes, the narratives communicated are those of transience, both because of the artist’s process and because of her chosen imagery. There is a seamless movement between the analog and digital realms for Maggie Taylor, with physical prints rendering like paintings despite their beginnings as increasingly complicated Photoshop files. This sense of perpetual motion especially applies to this new work, with all four images, including If I had a boat at the top of the page, communicating four distinct journeys.
Beginning with The Conundrum, let’s take a brief walk through Maggie Taylor’s wondrous world together, shall we?
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| Maggie Taylor, The Conundrum, 2021, Archival pigment print, 8 x 8″, Edition of 15, $1500 |
The Conundrum is an image that manages to pose poignant questions about individuality, free will and fear while somehow offering the viewer an opportunity for a chuckle at the same time. A single dog stands at the dock, seemingly still and at attention, while a boat full of his compatriots sits close by. Are they coming? Or are they going? Are they desperate for their friend to join them, or are they begging for help, scared of the sharks surrounding them? That question is up to the viewer, and the answer can change, but perhaps the most important question, as posed by the fish, is whether there are any sharks at all.
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| Maggie Taylor, Wanderlust, 2021, Archival pigment print, 8 x 8″, Edition of 15, $1500 |
Wanderlust is an intriguing image for all of the things that it doesn’t tell us. In this fantasy world, even the trees are ready to uproot and replant when they get tired of the scenery, seemingly leaving behind beautiful blue pools. Alongside these blue pools, we’re greeted by a pair of ornate blue shoes and are left with the question of who they belong to, and why were they left behind?
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| Maggie Taylor, Night Ferry, 2021, Archival pigment print, 8 x 8″, Edition of 15, $1500 |
The last new image of Maggie Taylor’s up for discussion is the haunting Night Ferry, wherein a headless boy and his catfish dog head an illuminated gondola over a vast expanse of water. Who is the guiding force behind this enterprise? Is it the illuminated head that leads the way or the raven that sits and calls out from the light post in the back? This visibility is intentional, and this boat is meant to be some sort of beacon, but the question of who the boat is for and where it takes its passengers is left for us to figure out.
Images featured in this post will appear in Maggie Taylor's forthcoming monograph, entitled Internal Logic, set for release in January of 2022. Mark your calendars and keep your eyes peeled!
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Print costs are current up to the time of posting and are subject to change.
For more information, and to purchase prints by Maggie Taylor please contact Gallery Director Anne Kelly or Gallery Assistant Delaney Hoffman, or you may also call us at 505-988-5152 x202
