Henry Taylor (b. 1958, Ventura, CA) paints predominantly figures, but rejects the label of portraitist. His chosen subjects are only one piece of the larger cultural narrative that they represent: his paintings reveal the forces at play, both individualistic and societal, that come to bear on his subject. The end result is not a mere idealized image, but a complete narrative of a person and his history.

Taylor’s colorful, expressive paintings are characterized by their emotional intimacy and gestural looseness, following in the tradition of American artists such as Alice Neel and Jacob Lawrence. After working as a nurse for almost a decade, he returned to school and received his BFA from the California Institute of the Arts.