Celebrating the best of Jewish art and cultural heritage
Paul Taylor is by birthanAnglo-Israeli and an artist but his inherent Jewish charm and profound understanding of Judaism and art are obvious. Last year Taylor, a member of The Royal Society of British Sculptors, resurrected an original idea from 2002, inspired by London’s Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition he proposed “ART ISRAEL” to the establishment in Jerusalem. It’s a concept whereby Israeli artists worldwide are invited to submit their work, which is presented anonymously to a democratic panel of peers and experts, for selection into an exhibition of eclectic Israeli art. After a six week exposition in The Hangar space in Jerusalem the winners of the categories and the public’s choices will be displayed in Israeli embassies around the world. The project has three private funders and is awaiting final approval from The City Hall of the Jerusalem Municipality.
At the age of 8 years Taylor saw a drawing of an Indian tiger’s head, from that moment he recognised he wanted to be an artist but it took him a long time to finally commence his art career. At 21 years he bought himself a lump of clay and in a five hour passionate frenzy he sculpted the head ofa horse, thrilled by the process and the result of this explosion of creativity he was accepted into London’s City and Guilds Art School to study sculpture for 3 years. Today Taylor is accomplished in all three sculpture mediums, clay is best for portraits - the tactual nature of the substrate lends itself to flesh with all its imperfections; for Taylor stone is the most spiritual material with a zen like quality emanating from the tic tic tic sound of the chisel against the stone making an immortal image; steel is best for installations that defy gravity through suspension, elevation and balance; many artists liken working with steel to drawing in space, Taylor sees both opportunities for delicacy and brutality working with this metal.
In December 1989 the Taylor family went on a pilgrimage to Israel, in the snow he met Muriel Eisenberg a beautifuland renowned astrologer, this celestial meeting inevitably sealed his fate and he had proposed within twelve hours and they were married in six weeks. In 1990 Taylor opened his studio and The High Schools for Arts onAbu –Tor inJerusalem, righton the apex of Mediterranean and Arab basins. The newlywed Taylors lived in Jerusalem and started a family under incoming scud missiles and outgoing Israeli Airforce jets, the children grew up avoiding the bus bombings of the second Intifada of 2002. Following the death of his beloved Muriel, Taylor symbolically closed his studio door on 31st December 2014, just at this moment the art Israel idea popped back into his head for the New Year.
Today Taylor has discovered painting, whilst walking with camels in Kenya he introduced himself to the wonderful characters of colour, he sees places, time, quiet, beauty and people in extraordinary vibrant colour. Taylor sees art Israel as a platform for Israeli artists to become recognised nationally and internationally, he hopes it will inspire the world to look beyond London and New York for Israeli art and introduce a buoyant commercialism to the city; he says “We are hoping for good news about the funding by early November; it will be incredible when it happens, it would be for us, by us, from us to us.”
Today Taylor has discovered painting, whilst walking with camels in Kenya he introduced himself to the wonderful characters of colour, he sees.