When Taylor Simmons showed at Helen Anrather last month, the name of the show stood out: “LIMBO = Living Is My Best Option.” We had been big fans of the work after Simmons showed at Public Gallery in London in 2022, and today, we wanted to make him the A Portfolio.
Taylor Simmons’ paintings, prints, and drawings incorporate hazy fluorescent depictions of everyday life, collectively forming an archive of compulsively collated imagery. His layered compositions, distinct for their neon-coloured palette and balance of acrylic, oil, airbrush and wax, slip between figuration and abstraction, specificity and ambiguity. Citing music, found photographs on ebay, and viral video clips as inspiration, the artist takes impulsive riffs and remixes that coalesce in his organic and all-over dynamic works. His paintings sample fragments of his surroundings, from his upbringing in Atlanta, Georgia to his years in New York City, questioning the conventional performance of masculinity and recalling universal themes of youthful play, human nature, work and rest.