Henry Taylor: B Side
So the Henry Taylor B Side exhibit has been at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) here in Los Angeles, since November of 2022, and I had been planning to go. In fact, some friends of mine had been and they spoke very highly of it. And I had read about Henry Taylor online so I'm familiar with his background and his work, and so I was really very much looking forward to going to the exhibit.
Now, on a side note: the Ernie Barnes exhibit was here at the UTA gallery albeit not for very long. However, I certainly had ample time to go and check it out but sadly I didn't. I just looked up one day and saw that show had closed and I was very, very disappointed in myself.
So when I woke up on Sunday morning and noticed that Henry Taylor's show was closing that very day I got off my duff, got dressed, and caught an Uber on over to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA).
I really don't know what I was expecting but when I walked in the door the first thing that I saw made me gasp audibly. There at the entrance is a massive canvas displayed on a single wall by itself. It's huge. And it's colorful. And it's really impressive. And it set the tone for what was to follow. I was really excited. I couldn't wait to visit all the rooms and check out all the work in great detail.
A lot of it was just spectacular. Really large canvases. Something unexpected that intrigued me was the thickness of some of his canvases. Some have a thickness of what must be like four, maybe even 5 inches; which is something that I've never seen before. And Taylor's work really spoke to me. I mean, I saw some things that really spoke to me. Taylor's work evoked my family and my upbringing. My childhood. It was really rather emotional on that level at times. I also laughed. There were some pieces that were very funny which had embedded humor like the Obama pieces. Especially "Cicely Tyson and Miles Davis Visit the Obama's" which is hilarious.
Then there were his drawings. I learned that Henry Taylor worked in an asylum or mental hospital for many years where he would draw what he saw there. There was an entire wall displaying many of his drawings from that period. Some were kind of disturbing in a way, but also very interesting to see. Another thing that stood out to me was his sculptural work and his installation piece: a collection of mannequined leather jackets arranged in a crowd formation underneath a banner promoting the Black Panthers. It was really strange while at the same time extremely powerful and interesting.
I just really enjoyed the whole thing. It was pretty well attended. I guess since it was the last day I probably was not the only one who hustled out in a hurry to try and catch it before closing. The gallery space was huge so there was plenty of room to just sort of mill about and contemplate along with but not interfering with others. The experience I had took about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. There was a lot of work on view, and I also took time to see the permanent collection that MOCA had on display. Some things that stand out in my mind are a couple of original Basquiats, a Cy Twombly that was really spectacular. I had seen Cy Twombly's work in pictures and online, but I was not prepared for the sheer size of one of the pieces that I couldn't take my eyes off of. The artistry that goes into actually making that piece was really only visible when I looked at it up close; you know, from a distance. It's easy to sort of just write it off as a big blue canvas somebody painted but when you get really close to it you can see that it's much more than that. It was also very cool to see a couple of Jackson Pollocks that were there. I mean, say what you will about Jackson Pollock, but there is something very striking and impactful about his paintings particularly when you see them in person.
So there was a lot of cool stuff at the gallery but certainly the standout on Sunday was Henry Taylor and his work. Really spectacular, moving, emotional, and ultimately very inspiring. I left there really energized and ready to get back to my studio and get back to work at my easel, but I was sidetracked. And it wasn't long before I realized I'm in another, completely different gallery, gasping in response to a different type of showing which I'll tell you about in my next blog post.
