Artist Bio

Southern California-based artist, Barbi Taylor, is a contemporary painter and mother of two best known for her colorful oil paintings of stylized women, animals, and landscapes. Her painting aesthetic is characterized by bold color blending, an effect achieved through her own technique of varying large and small brushstrokes in combination with gilding and inlays to build texture within her works. Born in Colorado and raised by a single mother for most of her life, she finds the majority of her inspiration in rural landscapes and from influential women in mythical, historical, and present-day contexts.

Barbi is an accomplished and experienced commission artist, having worked with clients worldwide on projects including custom paintings, signs, murals, and more. Her artwork has recently been featured by Create! Magazine, LA Art Show, and the Getty 25 Anniversary Festival.

Artist Statement

Throughout history, nature has been referred to as our mother because it personifies the nurturing and giving qualities of our environment. Born in Colorado and raised by a single mother during my childhood, the resilience and strength of the human spirit and the beauty of the natural world have impacted my life from a young age. I draw most of my inspiration from the places I’ve lived and the people I’ve known. As such, my work celebrates and visually expresses the interconnectedness between nature and people that we experience throughout our lives.

My work is rooted in storytelling. Through the medium of oil painting, I employ subject matter ranging from people and places to creatures to create what I envision as an alternate reality. By abstracting the compositions just enough, the viewer can detach from real life even if only for a moment, and enter the altered world I want them to see.

How does the theme ‘Biosphere’ play a role in your work?

This body of work seeks to celebrate the beauty and uniqueness found in the diverse wildlife that can be found in our world in hopes to remind the viewer how extraordinary the animals on our planet truly are.

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