My life-long daily curiosity to explore ideas has been the major force in discovering how and what I choose to create. I am always willing to move on to new territory, new methods, new subjects of pursuit. A major retrospective of my work may appear as if several artists had created it, though I sense a common thread throughout. Social commentary is of consistent concern, in both my art and my writing. 

The Poet Spiel 

DRAWING CONCLUSIONS 

New Works by American Artist and Author Tom Taylor aka The Poet Spiel aka Thoss W. Taylor 

Artists’ Reception & Opening Night | Friday, April 22, 2016 | 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm 

First Friday Art Walk | AFTER HOURS| Friday, May 6, 2016 | 8:00 pm to Midnight 

PUEBLO, COLORADO, April 1, 2016 — Kadoya Gallery is pleased to present Drawing Conclusions featuring new works by master artist and author Tom Taylor aka The Poet Spiel aka Thoss W. Taylor from April 22 to May 18, 2016. The Exhibition Opening and Artist’s Reception is on Friday, April 22, 2016 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm and is open to the public.  

When meeting the artist at his home this past autumn, one recognizes that you are navigating sacred ground and embarking on a journey of discovery driven by a storyteller who has reached far and wide into the vocabulary of our times. The artist’s passion for his craft is front and center and this energy empowers his creative process. This can only take place when his health allows and his vascular dementia has not commandeered the driver’s seat. Since late 2015, the artist has created two dozen new paintings and art objects specifically for this show. Clearly The Poet Spiel has more stories to share with his audiences. What started as just a thought about creating works for a new generation of his collectors has transformed into a comprehensive exhibition showcasing the artist’s most recent creative burst along with a retrospective catalogue touching upon seven decades of his diverse career as an artist and author. 

The Poet Spiel identifies himself as having been a maverick from birth, brought into this world by common white folk on a small farm out west, the same year the U.S. entered the bleak years of WWII. But in 1996, a major confrontation with what was promised to be his imminent death, changed the course of his life. He abruptly dropped a successful career as a visual artist and became withdrawn and reticent. For the first time ever, he became uncreative. Then in 1999, an urge to write arose within him. Since then, scores of independent press editors and international art-licensing agents have published, in the hundreds, his often raw poems of conflict, his quirky, insightful short stories and his various and bold bits of art. He is credited with the publication of more than one dozen chapbook and book collections of poetry, short stories and scores of art products. One of Spiel’s letterheads reads: “Without your ear, I have no voice.” Though he considers writing a deeply private process, he believes his work is not complete until it touches the thoughts of others–a holdover from the decades of his life as a nationally acclaimed visual artist, when, presenting himself under other personas and with various types of art, he was recognized with more than four dozen solo exhibitions, coast to coast, in galleries, museums and universities. His work has been published worldwide in a broad array of formats. Spiel is known for his work with socially conscious subjects and being unusually comfortable with taking us on journeys into the discomforts of deep secrets many may share but find too personal or too dark to reveal, such as the psychiatric disorders with which he has coped throughout his life, the injustices of government he observes daily, the nonsense of war, the perils of homosexuality, incest, the reality of suicide and the declining years and Alzheimer’s disease, using dark irony and wry humor as his tool. He is masterful at risking an uncertain world where, harboring the visceral paranoia that accompanies surveillance at our every turn, we wish everything would turn out okay but we are too often disappointed to find that it does not. 

A special hardcover catalogue titled ‘A Lifetime Drawing Conclusions: Tom Taylor aka The Poet Spiel aka Thoss W. Taylor’ has been published for this exhibition. Heavily illustrated collection of this artist’s images, representing seven decades of his diverse career as an artist and author. It will be available for purchase at the Gallery beginning April 22, 2016 or online from the gallery publisher at Zulu.  

Dr. William Folkestad, Chair of the Department of Art at Colorado State University, wrote: “…Viewing paintings such as these is like reading a series of private letters. The clean forcefulness of Spiel’s imagery acts like clamps on the viewer’s consciousness. The Poet Spiel’s fecund imagination shapes rich, clear imagery. He editorializes on our society’s misfortunes including hollow social promises, mismanaged religions and political aspirations that can be appropriated for ill.”  

Public Information 

Kadoya Gallery |119 Central Plaza, Pueblo, CO, 81003 USA| (719) 320-6315 | kadoyagallery.com 

Hours: Wed – Fri | 11 am to 5 pm, Sat & Sun | Noon to 4 pm, Mon & Tue | Closed 

By Appointment: Exhibition Viewing & Private Gallery Booking by Special Appointment (Tel 719.320.6315) 

Online Catalog: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kadoyagallery 

Refreshments | Wheelchair Accessible | Free Admission 

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