Tay Dall

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Full Biography

Tay Dall’s work embodies an energy and passion with imaginative mediums, subjects, themes, colours, and styles that continue to surpass all expectations of the current art trends South Africa has to offer. Her work, when viewed in person is unique and unforgettable as can be attested by the hundreds of  private and corporate collectors who have invested in her artistic vision.

Born in Cape Town in 1966, Tay began doing art classes at the early age of 8 years old, finally finishing her education with a Bachelors in Fine Arts from the Michaelis School of Art at the University of Cape Town. In 1988 Tay immigrated with her family to Los Angeles, California where she worked in the film industry, studied computer graphics, and began exhibiting her work in various venues in her free time. Her eminent success in America led to a full-time career as an artist.

Tay Dall’s art has been shown in more than 90 exhibitions throughout the world. Her work is represented by over 30 local and international galleries. Needing to be closer to her roots, Tay returned to South Africa permanently in 1995 where she currently paints from her studio in the beautiful seaside village of Hermanus in the Western Cape.

”As a working artist I am also an entrepreneur, so integrity is paramount in both disciplines of my career. Staying honest and true is the only way to be taken seriously and survive as a woman, as a careerist and as an artist. Appreciation and respect is the ultimate reward for my hard work.

There is absolutely no one way to describe my work.  It may fall under the cliché of ‘it’s for me to know and you to find out’.  I do not fall into any canons of modern art, I do not school myself after the masters of my time, I do not express a social or political cause and I do not pretend to paint for a particular audience.  I do, however, paint for the purest pleasure of creation, for the free flow of subconscious thought, for the need to escape the confines of law and order.  Mostly, my art expresses my way of seeing things.  I paint the essence of my existence within my own sense of timelessness.

I treat my canvas with sublime indifference.  A flickering thought or an incessant feeling can spark off my creative impetus.  Each painting conveys its own state of consciousness and its own menu of styles from surrealism to abstraction.  There is no overall plan to my individual works.  Images are born onto the canvas as they are born into my mind.  This is my personal struggle with art; the incongruous relationship between structure and space.   This struggle represents a wholeness that encompasses all of my life’s energies.

To me, the circle of life begins and ends in the exact same spot.  There is often a furious circular quality evident in my compositions.  Many of the organic forms in my works are but mere extensions of the circle.  I use my mediums in thick layers to bring depth and richness to a lifeless surface.  My palette includes oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, ink, charcoal and pencil.   Although I enjoy working on canvas and board, I tend to disregard conventional surfaces by using old doors, windows, planks of wood and any other unusual material I may find.  These castaway items become a realm of possibilities beneath my brush and elicit an ironic truth about my sense of natural beauty.