About Taylor

Through velvety oil paint of intense chroma I breathe life into dreamscapes of illusions and escapism, untangling internal conflicts. Illicit acts and frightening omens are concealed under prismatic and vivid colors. The painted surface can be cluttered and flowing, applied in a flat and smooth manner. Each painting is a journey through my singularity, speculations, wonder, and horror.

Through invented myth I give shape and meaning to these intuitively built worlds. It is an allegorical empire consisting of moons, footprints, and fantastical animals. These numinous forces voice longing, mischief, mystery, childhood naivety, the passing of time, and deep secrets. There is a polarity of light and dark, the spiritual and the sensual, the intellectual and the emotional.

Twisting angles and layered colors create an unstable maze in which the mind can become lost and found again. A mirror is held to the tension, uncertainty, and conditions of human existence. It dwells in duality, like the same creamy pink of watermelon lip gloss and the inside of a raw pork chop.

Biography

Taylor Pate is an Appalachian native, whose work is influenced by this ancient chain of forest. She finds magic in the scent of firewood, the soft hoot of barn owls at dawn, and fields of wildflowers. She graduated from West Virginia University in 2020, studying both painting and history. In 2023 she graduated with her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Pate currently works at the Curtis Institute of Music and recently was awarded the Murray Dessner Travel Grant. Through this grant she will travel to Ireland to study ancient Celtic art and create a body of work reflecting on and mixing distant ancestors with contemporary experiences.