Is this us? by Jackson Taylor

Overview

Jackson Taylor's 'Is this us?' extends his ongoing investigations into shared everyday experiences. Through faux-naïve figurative paintings, Taylor explores notions of the mundane, transforming everyday scenes into opportunities to meditate on contemporary life where viewers might find connection and familiarity.

The exhibition dwells on the 'in-between' of daily life to explore moments that are ordinary, shared, and strangely slippery – waiting for the destination of a train trip, going to the bathroom on a night out, the slow choreography of a salon visit. The works carry the texture of memory; graffiti glimpsed, rubbish underfoot, strangers' mid-routine, while refusing visual cues like smiling faces or colour-coded emotion.

Philip Guston famously said that a painter has two choices: to paint the world around them, or to paint themselves. The paintings in 'Is this us?' assemble recognisable spaces and objects into detailed genre scenes that remain open, balancing clarity and doubt as to whether the perspective presented is one individual and personal to the artist, or one that is common to all of us.

Jackson is a recipient of the 2025 Canberra Contemporary ANU School of Art & Design Emerging Artist Support Scheme Mentorship and Exhibition Award.

Image credit: Jackson Taylor, 'Crossing the road on an overcast day', 2025, acrylic on canvas, 62 x 62cm.