Artist Statement

I believe art is an expression of self on a subconscious level, the vehicle to bring the subconscious to consciousness. What am I? What is the reason for this consciousness? People have asked these questions from the beginning of time- Rodin asked it in sculpture, Van Gough in paint not because life followed them, they followed life. They were following their instinct with a strong driving force to express and put into form the mystery and beauty that they saw and felt around them. They had a need to share their idealisms with struggles and triumphs to permanently document their experience of our existence.

Following my own instincts in search for that documentation of our existence my work celebrates the human form in the classic style. I enjoy using stoneware clay as my medium because it gives me the ease and freedom I need for the final experience. I also enjoy the freedom of being self taught in sculpture. As a potter for over twenty years, I purposely waited to begin producing sculpture to let it mature in my being until I felt ready. I knew that this was the time. In late 1999 through 2001, I have created over twenty different standing sculpture and relief works of which five went into bronze. My wish is to share this work, in order to let people experience and enjoy the beauty and delicacy of the human form in sculpture.

Please Note:

Is it possible to understand process? Even if it is possible to comprehend process, can a person appreciate the final out come or form? Is it warranted? Did the creator achieve the final form? Does it complement the initial thought or the first comprehensible expression of the subject? Does the vision channel deeply into my character, to stand there long enough to let my vision go into the clay? Is there enough in me to accomplish the final form or do I give up and call it finished? "Wherever I go I find him. He is no other than myself, yet I am not he."

James D. Taylor

A word on Art

An idea of the symbolic nude

There have been many studies on the Jungian and Freudian theories in symbolism; approaches to better understand the symbols of humankind's heredity and its archetypes. It is psychic as well as physical in nature through the conscious and unconscious mind. They are the carriers of tremendous energy or libido and manifests through the four functions of consciousness thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting by our actions and reactions.

Though I have not been formally educated in psychology, I do have a strong understanding of the obvious point that if what we say is aiming to confuse us or lie to us about the inheriting and developed trait to associate the symbolisms in the fabric of the psyche that guides us in our daily lives, then let us not be confused. Let yourself feel through another’s Art.

As a Fine Artist, it is not my job to sit and meditate then discuss all the possibilities of our Archetypes, but to react to how I interpret symbolism and its relations by presenting the mystery to a visual reality. My job is to stir emotion and bring beauty by celebrating thanks for this experience by documenting our existence in form by mediums.

Art has more mediums than can be named. Art is a label we have to give form to the intangible. The labels we have collected for ideas are not by accident. Art is a medium for the intangible.
James Dean Taylor 1965 -

"The nude is not the subject of art, but a form of art."
Kenneth Clark, Lord Clark of Saltwood
Beloved art historian, critic

Links
to a better understanding
Though I am not an active naturalist myself, I support the cause.
One day, in the right environment, we will learn to Love ourselves.

http://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/djc/graves.htm - Life Study 'The Nude in Art' - a brief history by Ellen Graves Associate Lecturer in the Arts
Open University in Scotland

http://haulover.org/artistic/nudeart1.html - Rules of polite society don't always make sense. Rob Boyte

http://www.naturist.com/resources/preface.htm - "Not everyone in the world thinks nudity is so bad, you know."

http://www.jeremiahwhite.com/views-nudes.html - Another artists views on nudes in art. Nice work Jeremiah

http://d-sites.net/english/eroteye.htm - 'The erotic eye and its nude.
An inquiry into the vicissitudes of the scopic and phanic drive' Stefan Beyst

http://domai.com/news/2004/02february-13/ - An interview with Eolake Stobblehouse. Fine art photography

http://www.garlikov.com/EroPhilo.html - A Philosophy of Erotic Visual Art. Rick Garlikov

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/arts/topic.aspx?topic=nudity - Nudity in art, theater and dance update at the First Amendment Center.

http://www.mbay.net/~cgd/naturism/wnl-0303.htm - The Weekly Nudesletter Front Page

Why against nude sculpture? - What is this fixation certain people have against nude sculpture?

http://www.tekline.co.uk/natlinks.htm - Updated links with a rounded open mind The Natural Way by Fred Harding.

The Nude in American art - Figure painting and sculpture

http://homecenterhealing.com/ - "We are a spiritual community dedicated to awakening the potential in all of us."

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