The Art of Taylor Gonzales

The Kuriositas tagline is science, art and all the wonderful bits in-between.  So when we heard of an art series called Great Minds that certainly aroused our interest - and the above portrait of Stephen Hawking made us want to see more.   

Great Minds is the work of twenty year old artist, painter and freelance graphic designer Taylor Gonzales (pictured left).

Above is Gonzales' take on Albrecht Dürer, not only a painter himself but also a mathematician. The fact that Gonzales is only twenty years old may make you want to spit in his face (in the same respectful way that George Bernard Shaw wanted to dig up Shakespeare and throw stones at him, of course!) but this series, in acrylic, spray paint and pen certainly demands attention.

Working out of Cleveland, Ohio, Gonzales’ inspiration from this series roots back from childhood, people that he admired during the beginning of his adolescence. You can't consider it a bad start - when your childhood heroes include the likes of Charles Darwin (above). These are people who inspired him to become an artist and fueled his creativity with their success. Using compositional complexity and a colorful juxtaposition of shapes to create depth in the portraits, Gonzales created what he calls an ode to these great minds by painting them in his distinctive style.

It’s great to see Hawking, Darwin, Basquiat and Dürer in the same series.  We are not too sure who Salacia is (below) – as far as we know she was Neptune’s wife – the goddess of sea water! Perhaps you can tell us!  In the meantime, you can read more about Taylor Gonzales on his blog or on Twitter. He is certainly a young artist on whom Kuriositas will be keeping a close eye!