Andy Taylor Smith has a unique, highly stylised approach to photography. Since an early age he has been fascinated by the odd, the surreal and the sublime and this is illustrated in the work he makes today.
Light features heavily in Taylor Smith’s photographs, giving them a staged, cinematic sense. He states: “I never tire to watch light, how it shapes and defines an object; the subtleties and peculiarities which can suddenly reveal something odd and surreal in an otherwise familiar subject.”
When making decisions about composition, Taylor Smith mentally strips the image back to its simplest and most graphic…
Andy Taylor Smith has a unique, highly stylised approach to photography. Since an early age he has been fascinated by the odd, the surreal and the sublime and this is illustrated in the work he makes today.
Light features heavily in Taylor Smith’s photographs, giving them a staged, cinematic sense. He states: “I never tire to watch light, how it shapes and defines an object; the subtleties and peculiarities which can suddenly reveal something odd and surreal in an otherwise familiar subject.”
When making decisions about composition, Taylor Smith mentally strips the image back to its simplest and most graphic form in an attempt to make the finished photograph uncomplicated and unconventional. He endeavors to find beauty in everything no matter how banal or ugly it may be to others. This can be seen in landscapes such as ‘Blue 1’ and the two ‘Krafla’ works; the carefully framed images of vast desolate spaces somehow give a sense of optimism and hope, when the subject matter could suggest negativities such as loneliness or emptiness.
Born in Nottingham in 1976, Taylor Smith studied photography at Falmouth College of Art, Cornwall, where he graduated with a first class honours degree. During this time he published his first book, Metamorphosis. Published in 1999 by David Matthews Associates, the monograph is a photographic journey dealing with the sensitive issues of eating disorders and mental health, accompanied by poems and quotations.
Taylor Smith has spent five years assisting some key figures in the photographic industry, both in the UK and the USA, which involved working on large scale productions for both art and commercial assignments.
He has exhibited his work in group shows in the UK and Europe. In 2005 he was category winner in the US’s Lucie Awards, and in 2006 was selected for the Creative Review Photography Annual Awards in the UK.
