Jo Taylor shows some of the most dynamic and powerful equestrian studies by a British artist in the last fifty years in her new show at the Campden gallery.
The thorough knowledge of a horse’s skeletal architecture and physical nature is clear to see. Jo Taylor is a fellow of the Department of Veterinary Science at Liverpool University, a rare accolade. But it is the dark mystery of the very life force itself, ‘the spirit of horseness’, which this artist is able to both conjure and beautifully harness in her work which makes it so remarkable.
Central to Jo Taylor’s gift is drawing; drawing, a gloriously arcane skill in these days of the dominating digit, hers is that wonderful skill acquired through years of equestrian study in the field; rain and sun, winter and summer. Like Stubbs, and Daumier and Degas and all her long dead mentors, she is a terrific draughtswoman. You might ask to view her sketchbooks? Be warned, they smell of old jodhpurs, leather gaiters with just a whiff of the ghost of Stubbs breathing through the stitching.
10th Nov – 2nd Dec
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