Simon Taylor - In a Suspended State

In a Suspended State is a body of photorealist paintings. The title of this body of work relates to the suspension of the narrative of a cinematic image and the way photorealist paintings seduce the viewer whilst viewing them. Both image and viewer are ‘in a suspended state’.

Each painting is derived from one of my original photographs and presented to mirror the aspect ratio of current anamorphic (wide screen) films of 2.39:1. This gives the paintings a recognisable format and fixes the paintings not only in a photographic context but also a cinematic one. This instantly invites a narrat ive to be placed on the work by the viewer.

The works are all painted using acrylic paint airbrush applied and traditional brushes onto stretched canvas. The size and scale of the paintings play a big part in the overall look and feel of the work. Each painting is over one metre in width and the photographic reference is usually a close up shot, this makes the actual subject appear larger than real life. I feel that this also adds to the cinematic and photorealist ‘look’ of the works.