Mike Taylor
Artist and Designer
Mike Taylor, born in Cheshire, England, is a self-taught
artist and designer. In his youth he travelled widely in
search of a more expressive career than that offered by his
first job in explosive stevedoring, a family concern.
Periods spent in fashion display and at the London College of Music were followed by a journey to Salvador Dali's home in Spain, and some ten years of work in the field of surreal ist art, punctuated by group and one-man exhibitions at such centres as the Pradevaru Gallery, Oxford, the Ruskin School of Drawing, the Archer and Mall Galleries, London, and the Salon d'Art Actual, Brussels. He lived for a while in Southern Portugal, before following his interests in art and culture to Greece, Russia, Egypt and India.
He concentrated on graphic design and teaching art at Further Education Centres after returning to England in 1974, and a year after his election in 1981 to the Society of Graphic Artists he became interested in painting zinnfiguren (flat pewter figures as they are known in England).
From painting he
progressed to designing, and several series of his figures have
been produced worldwide including a set of 80 figures based on
Tenniel's illustrations for the two Alice books. He has competed
widely in international competitions and his work has been
awarded many trophies, including 46 Gold Medals. Following
several Best of Show awards in both Britain and the United States,
he was made a 'World Master' at the 3rd World Expo in Toronto,
Canada, in 1998.
In 2003 he was asked to give a retrospective exhibition at the National Tin Figure Museum in Ommen, the Netherlands, Following this'the museum purchased many of his figures for their permanent collection. Now, after 20 or so years designing and painting zinnfiguren, Mike has returned to the 'fine arts'.
His latest project (begun in
2004) is a series of drawings called 'Aspects of Alice'. It had long been his ambition to illustrate the book 'Alice in Wonderland' in a straightforward manner
while incorporating touches of surrealism where necessary. However, being a collector of illustrated volumes
of the story, and seeing the work of so many gifted and original illustrators, he questioned the idea. Asking himself the question "What had I
to offer?" His solution was to not illustrate the story as it is told, but to make a series of drawings showing
'Aspects of Alice' which mayor may not directly relate to the two books. As he explains "A single expression on Alice's face;
a moment of ambiguity; a disturbing suggestion, would be enough. 'Less is more!' Even Alice herself could
be a different girl in each picture. After all Alice frequently asked herself who she really was!"
Illustrated Books:
The Hair Figures of Michael C. Taylor' by A.A.Rose. Fourlance Books Ltd. 1978.
'The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo' by Rudyard Kipling. Macmillan Children's Books. 1985.
'Traveller's Joy' an autobiography by John Rose. 1988.
'The Art of the Flat Tin Figure' by Mike Taylor. Windrow and Greene. 1995.
'Zinnfiguren entwerfen und meisterhaft bemalen' by Mike Taylor. Edition Krannich. Germany. 2001.
'Encounters with Alice' by Kimie Kusumoto. Publisher Michitani. Tokyo. Japan. 2007.