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The Arts Intel Report

Henry Taylor: B Side

Henry Taylor, Untitled, 2021.

Nov 6, 2022 – Apr 30, 2023
250 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012, United States

The artist Henry Taylor grew up in Los Angeles, where he worked as a psychiatric technician until 1997. But by the mid–90s, he realized he needed a change and enrolled at the California Institute for Fine Arts. Taylor painted obsessively, bringing bright swaths of color to portraits of people and household items such as cereal boxes, detergent, and furniture. His work calls to mind the Harlem Renaissance painters Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden, but his energy is powerfully contemporary. Taylor has since become one of the most important portraitists in America. This survey spans three decades of his career and presents paintings, drawings, sculpture and installations. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: Jeff McLane/ © Henry Taylor/ courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth