posted: May 13, 2012

Like so many people, I was really saddened to learn of the passing of Maurice Sendak last Tuesday.  Throughout that whole day, I thought about his brilliant work and how meaningful he was to me.  That same afternoon,  I was contacted by Aviva Michaelov at The New York Times who asked me if I would like to create an original piece of art and write a small piece of text as a tribute to Sendak for the paper's Sunday edition.  Along with me, they also asked Art Spiegelman, Tomi Ungerer, Geoff McFetridge, Bob Staake, Marc Rosenthal and Jon Klassen. Without hesitation, I dropped everything and began to start drawing ideas.  It seemed to fitting to "borrow" Max's outfit (from my favourite children's book, "Where The Wild Things Are") and dress up one of my own characters in it.  I wanted to convey the idea of "carrying on", or passing the torch if you will.  Legions of artists, like me, were first inspired by Sendak enough to start drawing.  Many of us, also like me, were inspired enough to write and illustrate our own kid's books.  Sendak's remarkable ability to unite wonderful pictures with amazingly original and irreverent storytelling gave so many of us license to find it in ourselves to also "dive head first", as Sendak used to love to say.  For this, I owe Sendak tremendous gratitude.
 
You can see the slideshow here.

From The New York Times:
"As a small child, I discovered the possibilities of creativity and empowerment in Sendak’s books.  It was through these ideals that I began drawing my own world of characters, narratives and scenes.  This eventually led me to a very happy career as an artist, and subsequently, a kid’s book author and illustrator.  My own children’s book, “This Is Silly!” owes a great deal to Max  and his beastly friends.  Mr. Sendak, I will never forget how you showed me that the wild things are really in our hearts."
-GARY TAXALI
The author and iIllustrator of “This Is Silly!” from Scholastic Press.
 
© Gary Taxali 2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

posted: April 26, 2012

For a number of months now, I've been pretty busy.  In fact, my catchphrase (for what seems like a longtime now) has been "I'm busy working on my show".  Well, that show is done.  It's finished, archived, and it's at the gallery.  And what a gallery.  My solo show will take place at none other than The Outsiders, owned and operated by the one and only, Steve Lazarides (past spokesperson and gallery dealer to street artist, Banksy).  Steve also shows a number of artists who are my friends and others whom I have also been in group shows with.  I've never been to The Outsiders and I'm excited to go there for the first time next week to attend the private viewing reception of my show.

 
My show, entitled, "My Feelings Like You", consists of 38 brand new works.  Included in this show are some of my biggest works to date, including "Skunk Electrical Soap" (60 x 80 inches) and "Shanti" (42 x 72").  The show consists mainly of mixed media works that I am best known for.  I also have paintings in there as well as some screen printed on handmade paper works.  This show means a lot to me.  Instead of randomly creating various works and piecing them together ad hoc, I carefully plotted out the pictures with a definite connecting theme in mind.  Here is an excerpt from a recent interview I did for for Lust and Found that explains what those connections are:
 
"The themes explored are just as much about introspection as well as searching.  There are a lot of assertions in the works I make about states of being and status of place.  Yet there are also inquisitive, questioning and curious follies regarding various emotions and relationship dynamics.  These are realized through my constant exploration of angst, happiness and catharsis that I hope is evident in the characters I draw and paint.  A common character I am known for, The Toy Monkey, makes a few appearances in these new works.  He’s a guide, if you will.  Many people may surmise that he’s taking the viewer to a past time, in particular the 1920s or 1930s, but I’d like think that the place is just a byproduct and the real journey is in conveying the emotions through narratives."
 

My show runs from May 3rd - June 2nd.  The gallery is located in Soho, in beautiful Covent Garden, London.  The private viewing is on Thursday, May 3rd from 6 - 9 pm.   The gallery will be selling my book, "I Love You, OK?", so I'll also be there doing some signing.
 
Here's some recent press so far where you can also see more works from the show:
 
HI-FRUCTOSE Blog post about my show
 
Creative Review Blog post about my show
 









© Gary Taxali 2012 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

posted: April 12, 2012

The Republican Party's election antics are nothing short of a comedy of errors.  Every time I read the latest new about their shenanigans, I cringe in disbelief and think "WTF?".  It's one thing to stay true to your platform, it's another thing to systematically alienate group after group, and as we all know the GOP has been quite successful in that.  And the things they do!  Even George "Macaca" Allen is back in the saddle running for Senate.  Again, WTF?  Are they purposely trying lose this election?  One can only surmise.
 
Here's a cover I illustrated for the current issue of Mother Jones.  The Creative Director is the wonderful Tim J Luddy whom is always a pleasure to work with.  This cover assignment was no exception.  It was fun, effortless and all those wonderful things that happen in a dream assignment - then again, I attest that to Tim's amazing art direction and always knowing to call me for the right assignment.  The elephant was a blast to draw!  The final cover also features a fantastic portrait of Romney on the magazine's logo by the brilliant Steve Brodner. 

© Gary Taxali 2012 All Rights Reserved

posted: March 9, 2012

It's been a great 2012!  I've recently had the wonderful opportunity to work on some exciting projects and assignments.
Here is some packaging art I created for "Mr. Kipling", a brand of cakes in the UK.  This will go on their tins.  I haven't tried their cakes yet but they look delicious.  The agency was Another Production along with 101 Production, both in London.  And of course, the project was extra fun for me because I had the chance to create the typography. The AD was Mark Elwood.
 


 
Also in the UK, here are a couple of book review pieces created for The Sunday Telegraph's art and culture magazine called "Seven".  The AD was Alex McFadyen.
 


 
Here is a sneak piece at one of my brand new pieces for my upcoming solo show in London, "My Feelings Like You" at Lazarides, The Outsiders Gallery.  This work is called, "Nervous Pete".  The show opens on May 3rd, 2012.
 

 
Here is some work  I recently completed for Steve Banks at Los Angeles Magazine on a piece about the ethnic diversity of the Pico/Crenshaw neighborhood.
 

 
The below illustration was created for The Wall Street Journal on a piece about "financial therapy".  The AD was Orlie Kraus.
 

 
It's always a joy working for Kory Kennedy at Runner's World.  Below is a full page illustration called "Angry Knee".
 

 
Another regular client I always enjoy working with is The Dallas Morning News and the amazing Michael Hogue.  Here is a piece on how the web, especially in regards to social network sites like Facebook, isn't as polarized as otherwise thought.  This article was originally published in Slate.
 

 
That's it for now!  More coming soon...
 
© 2012 Gary Taxali ALL RIGHTS RESERVED