Fantastical Eruption
The intensity of color in Taylor Norris’ collage work reflects the intensity of the process behind it, which yields highly textured and imaginative worlds.
ON VIEW on October 8th, 2020
6:00pm Artist Talk on Instagram LIVE (WATCH REPLAY)
6:30pm Opening on Facebook LIVE (WATCH REPLAY)
Local food feature:
MID CITY GRILL
Johnson City, TN
Pictured above: tofu burger | © Arnaud Dessein/Flickr - via Culture Trip
Carnivores and vegetarians alike can feast sumptuously at Mid City Grill. Offering one of the largest vegan selections in town, they also offer a variety of 100% angus beef burgers. And be sure to check out their sweet treats — they’re known for cheesecake.
Fantastical Eruption
mixed-media collage by Taylor Norris
exhibition view & details
Boiling Point
Fun Dip
Bubble
Egress
Fester
Untethered
Mountain Mine
Moonshine
Viral
ARTIST BIO & STATEMENT
Similar to folk tradition, I make work that is personal and sincere in narrative while obsessive and therapeutic in execution. I render rural-inspired fantasy landscape imagery with a combination of ripped paper, kitsch craft material, and traditional paint pigments. This mixed-media laden process has roots in a need to be thrifty, using what was readily available to me for cheap. The build-up of material highlights the importance of surface texture and abstraction in my work. The cut-and-paste collage technique then guides a sense of realism (surrealism even, given how collage lends itself to chance) back to my images, and as a result they exist in between abstraction and realism in a fragmentary dream-space. Within this space where I am guided by the whimsy of ripped-up children’s book illustration and the celebratory nature of glitter and metallic paper, my collage paintings are attempts at carving out that mysterious and magical sublime element that landscape painters historically chased with their oil paint.