"unearthing: plant life" is a mixed media work by Indiana artist Rejon Taylor. He uses Golden Fiber Paste, sand, thick gesso, and acrylic paint to create his richly textured artwork. The painting itself measures 24 x 20." It is framed in a beautiful warmish-toned wooden "floater" frame to the dimensions of 25.5 x 21."
In this series of paintings, "unearthing," Rejon uses bold textures and earth-toned color palettes to reflect his yearning for the natural world. For more than half his life, Rejon has been denied all access to the outdoors, sunshine, even a glimpse of the moon from windows purposely painted over to obscure any relation to the outside world. Yet still, he paints, writes, and finds a sense of self through the creative process. More than anything, Rejon wishes to share his creative spirit beyond the walls of his confinement and to be a voice for those who have no voice.
Artist's statement about this work:
"The piece with the solitary stem, cut from its roots, disconnected from the earth, yet green and fruitful against a hardened background. This is my attempt to unearth impressions of nature from my childhood, when I would explore the woods in my childhood alone, admiring the wonders of plants, branches, leaves, buddings. But such sensations are long buried, mostly forgotten, feeling like fractured relics of a past life. The intricacies of a plant's anatomy, even how it greens or bears fruit, are too faint in my experience to be depicted accurately. Hence the piece before you.
But that's not all. My art, like poetry, speaks in double entendres, lending itself to more than one meaning. It alludes to my current situation, how I'm alone, displaced from the earth, without roots, still youthful and green, bearing fruit in spite of the rigors of solitary confinement."
