Geoff Taylor exhibition,
A review by Tammy Bunting (c) 2005
Hi Everyone,
It is with great pleasure that my first ever review, is about an artist I feel has such amazing talent.
On Friday 12th August 2005, John and I had the pleasure of attending the preview evening of Geoff Taylor's Exhibition, called Wolves, Princesses and Dragons, at the Dock Museum, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, United Kingdom. Which is now open till 16th October, 2005.
We traveled the 600 mile journey, there and back, just to attend the Preview.
Among the 50 paintings on show are three relating to Raymond E. Feist.
Starting with Legends II', which greets you as you enter the gallery. It's colours are stunning, and although the book cover of the same name is terrific, the real artwork is outstanding. The spiraling of the dragon is astounding in detail. The intense orange of the border that surrounds is fantastic.
The Second Feist related painting I saw was Rage of a Demon King', again the depth of intricate detail is lost in the printing for the book cover, no fault of anyone, just something that occurs during the printing process. The battle scene pulls you into it's vastness,
transporting you to a new realm. The detail of the horse and warrior in the foreground are so meticulous. The catapults on the mountain side are so detailed.
The third, and my personal favorite, on display is Fairie Tale', I had always thought the cover striking, but on seeing the real art work it took my breathe away, it is to me, a spectacular piece, the colours and detail are dramatic, silver's and gold's highlight here and there and transpose the picture to an almost three dimensional feel. I found that as I moved around the gallery, in the vicinity of this picture, I saw different aspects I had not noticed before. Truly an enthralling work of art in my opinion.
Other authorswho's cover art are on show include Katherine Kerr, David Eddings, and Tolkien to name but three.
Among the other artwork on display are pieces that Geoff did for the record War of the World', I remember some years ago, I wont say just how many, as it may give away my age, sitting listening to the record and looking at the wonderful pictures in the book that came with it. Until Friday I had no idea, the artwork I had so enjoyed back then was created by the same artist, who produces many of the book covers, I enjoy reading today.
Geoff has a real love for Wolves, this is so wonderfully shown in the wolf artwork on show. They look so real, you feel that as you gaze upon them that they will come to life and move. Also, on show, illustrations from Wolf Brother', which are enchanting.
The fun side of Geoff can be seen in the Games Workshop and White dwarf magazine arts, here again so much amazing detail, with vivid bright colours, it was the first time of seeing them for me, and I found them cheerful, bright and very humorous, as I write this I can only but chuckle, the animated characters are delightful.
In my own opinion I can't do this exhibition justice, for in my eyes every artwork there, is of the utmost quality. I was once told, not so long ago, that Geoff puts his heart and soul into his work, this to me was no exaggeration, for I can honestly say that for me every piece comes to life in a very individual way. On speaking to Geoff, he said blood, sweat and tears goes into every piece, my answer to that is every bead of sweat, every drop of blood, and every salty tear, will forever give people so much pleasure, his cover art inspires people to take the authors book from the shelf and discover the adventure beyond.
If any of you who read this, have time, then I strongly suggest a visit if you can, John and I will most definiately be making another visit before it finishes. All the artwork is for sale, and I know a few have already been sold, if you have some spare money to invest, then I believe any of Geoff's artwork would be well worth the money.
My final words to this review, are that Mr Geoff Taylor has a huge heart and an inspiring soul, for every painting is a bit of him. Thank you Geoff for allowing us to enjoy your marvelous talent, and I look forward to seeing the many more works of art still to be produced.
See Photographs from the exhibition
