Henry Taylor Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition

Henry Taylor was born in the United States in 1958; he lives and works in Los Angeles.

Henry Taylor, The Marathon, Biennale Art Venice

Henry Taylor, The Marathon The aim of Henry Taylor’s work is to paint the reality of the lives of African Americans.
His portraits show both the poorest, the disinherited, and those who have succeeded.

Henry Taylor wants to testify to the reality of African Americans, the injustices of the system and life in the United States.

He paints people as they are, objectively, asking us only to pay attention to them in their difficulties.

Henry Taylor “Untitled”

Henry Taylor, Untitled His triptych “Untitled” exhibited at the Arsenal during the Venice Art Biennale brings together three symbolic scenes relating to the history of African Americans.

The first panel is a portrait of Toussaint Louverture (1791-1804), the leader of the revolution in Haiti.

The second refers to a text painting by the conceptual artist Glenn Ligon “Remember the Revolution #1” (2004) in which Richard Pryor’s words are transformed into a kind of mantra.

For the third part of the triptych, he used a photograph of people attending the funeral of Carol Robertson, one of four young women who were victims of a bombing in a church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963.

Henry Taylor “Untitled”

Painting Triptych, Acrylic on Canvas, 2019 Biennale Art Venice

Henry Taylor, Untitled

Henry Taylor “Hammons Meets a Hyena on Holiday”

Painting - Acrylic on Canvas 2016 Biennale Art Venice

This painting refers to David Hammons' photos when this artist was selling snowballs in the streets of New York.

Photos to which Taylor added references to Santa Claus and a Malian mosque to better show her irreverence to the African-American cultural mix.

Henry Taylor, Hammons Meets a Hyena

Henry Taylor “Another Wrong”

Painting - Acrylic on Canvas (2013) Biennale Art Venice

In his painting “Another Wrong”, a white man is arrested and taken by police officers in front of a colonial-style house such as found on the plantations.

Taylor, Another Wrong

Henry Taylor “Elan Supreme”

Painting - Acrylic on canvas, 2016, Biennale Art Venice

“Elan Supreme” is a portrait of a black woman who expresses her social success and her dependence on her mobile phone.

Taylor, Elan Supreme

Henry Taylor “I Became...”

Painting - Acrylic on Canvas (2016) Biennale Art Venice

Taylor, I Became...