b. Muscat, Oman, 1993
based in Amsterdam
Education:
MA Painting
Royal College of Art London, UK 2018-2020
BA Fine Art Academie Minerva Groningen, NL 2013-2017
Selected Exhibitions:
- Flour, Flower, WEP Groningen, Groningen NL, September 2022
- Umbel, No Man’s Art Gallery Project Space, Amsterdam NL, August 2022
-Show 2020, Bargehouse, OXO Tower, London UK, June 2022
-Rectangle Roads and Paved Tongues, MAPA Pop Up exhibition, Amsterdam, December 2021
-Open studio Atelier 74, Amsterdam, NL, August, 2021
-Art Vault: RCA in Focus, Kovet.Art, June- October 2021
-50/50, Fold Gallery, London UK, August 2020
-Beacon, Josh Lilley and Vortic Collect, Online, August 2020
-Show 2020, Royal College of Art, Online, July 2020
-Up, Up and Away, Hockney Gallery, London UK, March 2020
-Influencing the Influencer, TORCH Gallery, Amsterdam NL, November 2019
-Nescafe Azera X Time Out London, Truman Brewery, London UK,
June 2019
-It’s A Lot Like Life, Gorvy Lecture Theatre, Royal College of Art, London UK, June 2019
-Brexhibtion,
Courtyard Galleries, RCA, London UK,
April 2019
-We Can Only Have Fun on Certain Days, Warbling Collective x Stour Space, London UK,
April 2019
-Work-In-Progress Show, Royal College of Art, London UK,
January 2019
-MOAM X Paradiso 50 jaar Paradiso, Amsterdam NL, September 2018
-FIEG, Y2, Groningen NL, August 2018
-Paperworks, Corrosia, Almere NL, March 2018
-Another Reassuring Depository of Truths, This Art Fair, Beurs van Berlage Amsterdam NL, December 2017
-A Reassuring Depository of Truths, Oficina Divagar,
Almada PT,
November 2017
-Perspectives, Academie Minerva, Groningen NL,
July 2017
Residencies:
Oficina Divagar,
Almada PT, October&November 2017
Kunsthuis SYB 24uur Residencies Beetsterzwaag NL, March 2017
Awards and Scholarships:
Corona-overbrugging Kunstenaar Fond, Mondriaan Fonds, 2021
Prins Bernhard Cultuur Fonds, Young Talent Award,
2018
Hans Brinker Budget Trophy, 2015
Artist Statement (December, 2022):
I seek to give visibility to the virtue of everyday processes in the natural environment through careful observation and translation. I reflect on shapes that occur in nature that symbolise process or reproduction: ovoid pairs in a body, the cross-section of onion and garlic bulbs where the plant’s process of growth and reproduction is visible, and the centre of a flower, a cluster that expands.
I have been considering family stories while working as I see these as having similar dynamics to those found in nature, passed on from generation to generation, taking on new shapes and meaning, and persisting within us. I paint on vintage linen sheets. The sheets are thick and textured with signs of use and repair. They were historically part of a bridal trousseau, and have been passed down through families. I attempt to include the materiality of the linen as an object of artistic consideration, treating the entirety of my materials as part of that conversation on natural dynamics.
Both my physical and theoretical process of making involves numerous layers; the layering of thoughts, the layering of time, and the layering of experience. In the studio, I work with layered materials to create paintings, altering the layers to allow part of the process to be exposed to the viewer. The generosity of an exposed methodology invites the audience into conversation with the work, suggesting an artistic process that does not end in the work itself but continues beyond it.
Biography:
Safira Taylor is a visual artist working with painting, sculpture, installation, film, and photography. She was born in Muscat, Oman in 1993 to an Omani/German mother and a British father. She graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Academie Minerva (Groningen, NL) in 2017 and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art (London, UK) in 2020. Safira currently lives and works in Amsterdam.