Howard Taylor

Howard Taylor was one of Australia's leading modernist painters. In a career that spanned almost six decades, he worked largely outside the mainstream, living and practicing his craft close to the small township of Northcliffe, in the forest region of the south west of Western Australia.

This sculptural work, created from a piece of Jarrah wood found in the bush around the artist's studio, balances the man-made and the natural. Taylor has carved back into the form of the wood, creating new internal spaces which suggest the idea of the interior structures that underpin all natural forms. On a plinth of hand-painted steel that forms part of the work, the carved and sensitively painted form is perfectly poised.