Gage Taylor - The Visionary Art of Gage Taylor

January 20, 1942 - December 11, 2000

IN MEMORY OF GAGE TAYLOR

DARSHAN
by Uriel Dana

He holds me in his heart like warm ghee tea
and a deep water bath on a winters night.
His eyes dance as a mellow fire as he
patiently listens to my mad-woman tales.
He is Vishnu, the Preserver, who protects
all Buddha's under his sacred Banyon tree.
His friendship is my ashram and a beacon
of my never ending blessings.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gage Taylor was a professional fine artist for over 25 years. His oils and gouaches have hung in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and in eleven other countries, including the Whitney Museum in New York, the Paris Biennalle, the Smithsonian, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Among the magazines in which his work has appeared are Omni, Newsweek, and Rolling Stone. Reproductions of his paintings as note cards, book covers, album covers, and posters have been distributed all over the world. Gage has been a biographee in Who’s Who in the West, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World and in Outstanding People of the 20th Century (Incorporating the Outstanding Achievement Awards).

Taylor first came into the public eye in the early 1970’s as one of the handful of artists who created the style known as “California Visionary Art”. His heightened landscapes, as art critic Michael Bell has written, “focus on natural essences, those dimensions which we perceive with more than our eyes, the realm of truth existing between the lines and shadows of real time and space.”

For the past 14 years, Taylor has also collaborated on paintings with artist Uriel Dana. He and Uriel have traveled as guests of the U.S. State Department, exhibiting their collaborative work and lecturing to artists in developing countries on how to make a living with their art.

What is Visionary Art?
Uriel Dana has researched the subject thoroughly. She defines it this way. "Visionary art is an area of surrealism. (Surrealism just means more than one reality are put together, literally or symbolically.) There is classical surrealism, like Salvador Dali; social surrealism, like Irving Norman painting a cabillion cars on a freeway as a comment on overpopulation; and Visionary surrealism, which is spiritual in nature and consciously meant to uplift the viewer. It is not meant to be nightmarish, like some of the classical surrealism can be, or drug oriented, like psychedelic art. It is not about unicorns and rainbows."

Gage left us on 12/11/2000, though for many of us, his spirit remains to enrich our lives and illuminate our hope for a gentler and more compassionate tomorrow.

The following Obituary was written by Eric Ivory Chambers

Gage Taylor, a well-known artist and resident of Marin for 30 years, died Monday, December 11th, of cancer at the age of 58. Gage is survived by his beloved partner, Deborah Marcus of San Francisco; his son, Lincoln Taylor of Willits; his daughter, Deva Wheeler of Petrolia; grandchildren; and loving friends. Private services were held.

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Gage received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Texas in 1965 and a Masters of Fine Arts at Michigan State University in 1967. Gage first came into the public eye in the early 1970s as one of the handful of artists who created the style known as ³California Visionary Art.² His oils and gouaches have hung in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and internationally. Both his individual work and collaborative work with artist Uriel Dana have appeared in magazines, and reproductions have been distributed world-wide.

Contributions in Gage¹s memory can be sent to the Strybing Arboretum Society (Golden Gate Park), P.O. Box 225328, San Francisco, CA 94122.


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