'3 days in DC' - Washington Post Review
Washington looks a bit Mediterranean in “3 Days in D.C.: A Postcard from
the U.K.,” Colin Taylor’s show at Calloway Fine Art and Consulting. The
painter’s sketchy, semiabstract landscapes feature large planes of tan and
off-white, set off by blocks of azure sky. Maybe that’s how the city appears to
Taylor, who lives in grayer Manchester, England.
This set of canvases began with a brief visit to Washington in fall
2021, immediately after flights from Britain were restored. Taylor made
drawings and took photos of Georgetown, the Wharf and perhaps other
neighborhoods — most scenes are too impressionistic for the locations to be
pinpointed — and then returned to his studio.
The collected images became pictures that reveal something of their
origins: Loose charcoal lines underlie the soft colors, as if the original
drawings had only partially transmuted into paintings.
Taylor’s geometric forms hint at universal archetypes, while the
scrawled lines suggest motion. The figures in “Crowdscape: Wisconsin & M”
could be ghosts, or simply people in a hurry. Or maybe it’s the painter who was
in a rush, eager to capture an instant for all time.
Colin Taylor: 3 Days in D.C.: A Postcard From the U.K. Through May 7 at Calloway Fine Art and Consulting, 1643 Wisconsin Ave. NW.