The Artist

“As one of the first Bahamian Artists, Maxwell is perhaps our most advanced. He is a stubbornly individualist artist that has followed his own vision, disregarding the commercial aspect of art that could have made his life so comfortable”. These are the words that the late Brent Malone, a close friend and fellow artist, used in the introducing Max Taylor at the opening of a one man exhibition at Brent’s Matinee Gallery, on the 12th December, 1978.

Twenty six years later, after a lifetime of constant search and struggle, Maxwell Taylor has established an international reputation of excellence, and has earned a celebrated place in a society that had no place for artists when he was born. Born in Grant’s Town, New Providence, Bahamas, Max Taylor, along with Brent Malone and Kendall Hanna, was one of the first apprentices of the fabled Chelsea Pottery in Nassau. When the pottery closed in 1966, Max found his way to New York. the visit was to last approximately twenty years before he moved south to the Carolinas, and traveled extensively in Europe observing the social, economic, and political dynamics of many cultures. This exposure opened doors to the unique and intensely sensitive perception of the world of Max Taylor.

 Solidly grounded in the consciousness of his Bahamian background, and steeped in the pain and pleasure of the outside world, Taylor works incessantly to record both celebration and atrocity. The Work of Max Taylor is highly personal and spiritual odyssey creating a timeless quality of the dignity and strength of suffering in the experience of mankind and nature.

Cont....