Matt Taylor

Intense, rich colours dominate Matt Taylor’s incredible illustrations. His bold aesthetics coupled with the influence of Americana, fifties and sixties comic books and the contrast of primary colours, result in a damn fine body of work. Below is a selection of his film posters and private commissions...

Matt lives and works in Brighton, UK.

Robert Mars: The golden age of America

Cars, motels, logos, and other hulking monuments of the 1950’s and 60's saturate Robert Mars’ often desolate landscapes. These instantly recognisable symbols of American history still resonate in today’s mass-advertising world with the independent aesthetic of the highway having been replaced by a standardised corporate culture.

At this time in history, information was not instantly available to millions and there were no instant Internet celebrities. Nowadays, we are left with the enduring myth of the unique and unforgettable personalities of this golden age like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. And it’s with his latest work that Mars searches for today’s equivalent celebrity, if they even exist.

Tim Doyle

Illustrator and print-maker Tim Doyle hails from Austin, Texas and runs Nakatomi Inc, a site geared for the self-proclaimed nerd folk. I know him more as the guy who draws "real life" locations from The Simpsons and other TV shows. All of which make for extremely pleasant viewing.

His visual style reminds me of the legendary comic artist and Ghost World creator, Dan Clowes with its minimal colour palette and shading technique. Tim also has one of the best artist's bios I've ever read. He has lots of cats.

 

Rinko Kawauchi: The beauty of ordinary moments

I have this memory of standing in the back room of our old house, which had a glass paneled ceiling and French doors that led out into the garden. It was summer and one of those days that was either clear blue skies, or perhaps there was only one or two small clouds, and it was quite hot. I can still hear the birds singing and the wind in the leaves of the tree at the end of the neighbour's garden. Everything was as it should be. It was peaceful.

And then I always think of Rinko Kawauchi...

Edward Hopper's summer paintings

Edward Hopper is well known for his urban scenes depicting isolated figures in diners and hotel rooms which came to encapsulate modern American life in the mid-twentieth century. He and his wife Jo would escape the city and summer in South Truro on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where they would take trips out to find new material to paint.

The paintings he produced in the New England region showed another side of his work. There really is fresh air in these paintings. And the sunlight is glorious.

"Maybe I am not very human. What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house."

- Edward Hopper

Jeremy Geddes

Perhaps best known for his Cosmonaut series depicting figures peacefully floating in zero gravity, Melbourne-based artist Jeremy Geddes’ photorealist works have a haunting stillness to them. Even when depicting women bursting through windows or walls, there is still silence.

His muted colour palette, coupled with his ability to capture a certain light, create an incredible atmosphere with an immense depth to them. Using surrealist imagery and urban settings, Geddes’ intent is to leave the narrative ambiguous and open to interpretation.