Ross Taylor

b.1982, London, UK
Lives and works in London

Ross Taylor completed his MA (Painting) at The Royal College of Art, London, in 2008. In 2018 he was selected as artist-in-residence at The Edward James Foundation, West Sussex, and between 2015-16 was the Abbey Scholar in Painting at the British School at Rome, Italy. Co-founder of Mrs Paterson’s Press and co-editor of Neru Phuyt with his brother Jordan, he has also written for publications such as Royale F!%ks and Control Magazine.

Ross Taylor’s works reveals the artist and his inner world of personal stories and fictional characters, developed in time in the realm of the studio. His painterly work is essentially studio-based, the studio thus being a special and ordinary place, a fabulous cave which feeds and consumes at the same time the artist’s work: “A sanctuary to pick and scratch, wait and stare, to let your attentions be removed from the matter at hand. But this is incredibly important, because maybe then, and only then, a painting might begin to ‘happen’.” Taylor creates his paintings, cut-outs and installations through a long process of drawing, painting, scratching, piercing and cutting the surface of what later on become to be ‘abused’ objects with thick layers and multiple narratives.

Education

2015-2016 – British School in Rome, Rome (Abbey Scholar in Painting)
2006-2008 – Royal College of Art, London (MFA in Painting)
2002-2005 – Winchester School of Art, Hampshire (BFA in Painting)
2001-2002 – Chelsea College of Art and Design, London (Foundation, Fine Art)

Solo exhibitions

2022 – The rumbling tum (Galerie Russi Klenner, Berlin)
2021 –Shoulder pipe forgiveness claw, Larsen Warner, Stockholm, Sweden
2020 – The decorator always gets paid least (Ivan Gallery, Bucharest)
2018 – A spicy migraine grease (Christian Larsen Gallery, Stockholm)
2017 – Teeth Where Fingernails Should Be (Ivan Gallery, Bucharest)
2013 – Bunker Bar Christening (ANDOR, London)
2011 – School Play (Kingsgate Gallery, London)
2010 – Haze Moods (Supplement, London)

Recent group exhibitions

2024 ”Bye-Bye Confidence”, Ivan Gallery, Bucharest

2023 ”POISON”, OHSH Project Central, London, UK

2023 ”The Brink”, curated by Marjorier Ding and Linlin Zhu, 49 Tanner Street, London, UK

2023 ”…freshly as if my eye was still growing”, APT Gallery, London, UK

2023 ”LUMA”, curated by Jenn Ellis, Brooke Benington at AORA, London, UK

2022 By the Skin of Our Teeth: Jesse Pollock & Ross Taylor (Brooke Benington, London, UK); Cubitt 30 (Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK); Primary: an exhibition in three colours (Larsen Warner, Falsterbo, Sweden); A drawing show, (VO Curations, London)
2021 – AMTSALON, Berlin
2020 – The studio at 4am (Hastings Contemporary, East Sussex, UK); RATTUS RATTUS (Gallery Russi Klenner, Berlin, Germany); Gathering (Larsen Warner, Stockholm, Sweden)
2019 – Feeling BLOB (for ALW on RTM.fm, TACO, London); slade2sing, #01-04 (Thomson V One, Singapore); Sukkot (211 Montrose Avenue, New York); How small a thought (Marwell House, Margate, UK); The Cave and the Sea (Thirdbase, Lisbon); The Immeasurable (Thames Side Gallery, London); Skins (18 Malden Road, London); Mimesis; Narrative; Against hegemony (APT, London)
2018 – Dialogues / New Paintings From London (GASK, the Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic); As I took her arm […] (Yellow, Varese, Italy); Sightings (Caraboo Projects, Bristol, UK); The Corpse Strikes Back (New Glasgow Society, Glasgow, UK); One Summer Night (Christian Larsen Falsterbo, Skåne, Sweden); Unknown Paper (The Edward James Foundation, West Sussex, UK); Lore of the Land (Churchgate Gallery, Somerset, UK); Reading as Rhythm (in collab. Madalina Zaharia, Tate Exchange, Tate Liverpool, UK)
2017 – A Motley Crew (Christian Larsen, Stockholm); Outpost (CAVES, Melbourne); Ex Roma IV, (APT, London)
2016 – RIN (Konsthall Växjö, Smaland); June Mostra (British School in Rome, Rome); A Bestiary, (Turf, London); March Mostra (British School in Rome, Rome)
2015 – An evening with Flat i (Flat i, London); Structural Object (27, London); Control 19 (Kate MacGarry Gallery, London)
2014 – Parts per million (AIRstudio, CSM, UAL, London); Blue Plastic Bag, AIRstudio (in collab. with Madalina Zaharia and supported by CSM and ACE); Mudlark (Fold, London)
2013 – How could everybody be so wrong (ANDOR / The David Roberts Foundation, London)
2011 – Backwards Man (CGP, London); Dough and Dynamite (KobetsVasey, London);
2010 – Degenerates (Blyth Gallery, Imperial College, London);
2009 – Supercilia (Royal Liver Building, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool); Real Presence (The House of Legacy, Belgrade); Wolf (Sequences Festival, Reykjavik)

Awards and residences

2018 – The Edward James Foundation (West Sussex, UK)
2015-2016 – Abbey Scholarship, British School in Rome (Rome)
2014-2016 – RIN, Konsthall Växjö (Smaland, Sweden)
2013 – Windows Commission, CSM, UAL and the Arts Council England
2009 – Real Presence International Forum (Belgrade)
2008 – Chelsea Arts Club Travel Scholarship

Selected writing projects

Co-founder of Mrs Paterson’s Press and co-editor of Neru Phuyt Magazine
www.mrspatersonspress.com / www.neruphuyt.org

2015 – Basina, Royale F!%ks
2015 – Haircut as Painting, Fold
2014 – Walls with holes in, Control Magazine, Issue 19
2013 – An artist’s Artist (in collab. with Stephen Willats), Artforum 12/13; Bunker Bar Christening, AND Publishing; Back to the Golden Pyramid, ANDOR
2013 – Paul drives Trains, An Assembly Project