Demo Pop Art Diaries 4 "So like the lady with the mystic smile"

 The latest article in my series recording my discussions with Loz Taylor sees us talking briefly about appropriation and then about where Taylor’s works are currently on display.

So when is it Appropriate to Appropriate?

Picasso is “credited” with paraphrasing T.S Elliot when he said “Good artists borrow (or copy) Great artists steal“  I would like to think that this was said with some sense of irony as the quote itself was stolen, or borrowed, or copied! I feel what is lacking in these words is some perspective regarding the artist’s intent. Perhaps Picasso needed to reflect that the means sometimes justifies the end, i.e. when we steal as artists, it is to create still better art with which we  intend to repay our debt to society a thousand fold.

I personally prefer Peter Wolf’s take on the subject, he said “Of course, your ideas can be stolen... I used to think it was immoral; now I think of it as a compliment... Ultimately, an idea isn't yours; it's only your take on something“. Therefore  a photograph or still from a video can be by definition neither stolen or borrowed as only the person being photographed or filmed ever truly owns their own image.  

Today it has proved mutually convenient for Loz Taylor to meet me in my own home and as I greet him at the door I notice that he is carrying an image on canvas, he holds it up and I see that it is his image “Pester Me” a work of startling hues based around a photograph of one of Taylor’s favourite actresses Tilda Swinton. Taylor tells  me he is not aware of who the photographer is or was but that he loved the image, finding the smile comparable to that of the Mona Lisa, enigmatic, mysterious and with that eerie quality  some pictures have where the eyes seem to follow you wherever you move. Taylor is not seeking in any way to alter the photograph, purely to transform it into another work of art it is a thing of beauty in itself which he feels he wishes to help preserve, to build upon it’s integrity and keep it alive.  When so many images these days are used and then discarded as tomorrows fish wrappings. he feels that this image needs to be displayed and pondered over.  We then reflect that, its mystical nature aside, an image of Swinton is sure to have mass appeal as she has a larger than average group of followers having starred in many films such as “The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe” whose appeal bridges the age divide.

Taylor added four short lines of personal poetry to the image, along with an alien landscape, the horizon of which passes directly through that “mystic smile”, which adds immeasurably to its enigmatic nature. 

It occurs to me at this point that it would be an interesting question to pose as to which has the greater artistic merit, the man who spends three months painting a beautiful portrait which can capture the likeness and to some extent the soul of the subject, or the perfect photograph.  It may “never lie” but does a photograph always tell the whole truth? The meaning behind a smile? Perhaps in the case of this image it is a gift to the artist that it does not!
 
“Pop Art looks out into the world. It doesn't look like a painting of something, it looks like the thing itself.” Roy Lichtenstein.

In “Perfect Score” Taylor takes as his subject a still image from a dance music video. The dance theme of the video led Taylor to make the link with ice skating so he embellished the image with the number 6.0, six times representing the perfect score in that sport. It represents several other things for Taylor however, the woman is provocatively dressed in an outfit which features black and white stripes (the  number six greyhound racing jacket of course)  and is extremely sexually attractive therefore suggesting the “carnal” reference to the word “score”. To a later example of this image Taylor added the words “Demo Pop” the first time he had applied these words to his work, therefore a milestone of considerable note.

Taylor feels that this work is also a “perfect” piece of Demo Pop Art being a strongly ideas based work with an equally strong aesthetic.  Indeed as a work with so many traceable themes it is as anyone who has read any of these articles or visited Taylor’s own blog the absolute definition of the genre.

Giving no Quarter in the Quadrant and Maxsimizing One’s Potential

“Perfect Score” currently hangs in a Wolverhampton bar called the ‘Quadrant Lounge’ along with several other pieces by Taylor, “Dogs of War”, “We Have to Take Everybody With Us” and “The Servant”. Taylor would like to take the opportunity to thank the bar owner, Min, for requesting that his works be displayed there and for keeping them in situ for over a year now.

“The Quadrant”                                                                 "Dogs  of war"

 

 

"The Servant"

                                                                               

Taylor also has some of his work on display at “café Maxsim” a Bistro, also in Wolverhampton . Taylor was just visiting one day when he asked if they needed any art work on the walls and as luck would have it…..

Maxsims

The pieces on display at Maxsims are:
                                                               “Girl Dreaming in Red”

                                                                         “Paris Flickers”

“Little Jesus” 

                                                                   "Painted Bottles"

                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                  “Forever More”

And “Pure Chance”

 “Pure Chance” is an image Taylor created by feeding the greyhound racing jacket colours into a computer program that randomly spreads the rectangles of colour over the canvas ensuring that no two versions of the work will be the same - hence pure chance!  It is important to note here that the first of these pieces ever produced, known as C1 is in the possession of a private collector.


Taylor believes that Public display of his work is an important conduit in spreading the word of Demo Pop Art, but it is far from his intention that it be the only one. To this end earlier this month Taylor commissioned a pop art image to promote Demo Pop Art .  He hopes to create the maximum possible impact with the cartoon image across all available media, posters will be created, business cards printed and magazines approached in an effort to propagate the movement.

 

Taylor himself is in no way concerned that another artist has created this image, he simply considered it expedient to have someone else produce it. For Taylor it is sufficient to have conceived the idea of the two figures in the car discussing Demo Pop’s impending breakthrough. He is indeed very happy with the end result considering it “A job well done” It is of course not uncommon for artists to rely on the work of other artists to produce their original ideas, much as an architect produces the plans for a building that others will then construct. Taylor’s “Dogs of War” is another good example of this where we see the artist’s concept of the chess set produced by another artist skilled in 3D computer modelling.

I make no apology for this my fourth article being a little “Image Heavy”.  I feel a little like spreading the word myself today and what better way to do it than by “reproducing” some of Taylor’s works in an effort to engender further support of Demo Pop Art and to encourage you to view them “in situ” in all their glory. I wonder though, should I have used the term reproducing or copying or borrowing or…………………………