Maggie Taylor: In Wonderland - Laurence Miller Gallery

Laurence Miller Gallery | Exhibition October 30 - December 24, 2008

Maggie Taylor In Wonderland

From October 30 through December 24, Laurence Miller Gallery will present a
selection of contemporary surrealistic images by Maggie Taylor illustrating the
150-year old story of Alice in Wonderland. Maggie thus joins the ranks of artists like Salvador Dali and more recently the fashion photographer Annie Leibovitz who continue to find inspiration in this classic story.

The connection between Maggie Taylor’s computer-generated and lushly colorful digital prints and Lewis Carroll’s phantasmagorical story almost seem too obvious at first. And surely it is serendipitous that Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was also a photographer whose interest in photographing young women has received renewed acclaim, most recently in an exhibition at the International Center of Photography in New York, 2003.

But Maggie’s illustrations, so many years removed from the original Alice tale, have a definite post-modern feel, and seem liberated from the literal aspects of the story. Her Alice not only exists in the many shapes described in the book but also as many ages: in The Great Puzzle, she seems on the verge of adulthood, while These Strange Adventures depict an eight-year-old enjoying a magical dream. And the creatures of the Florida in which Maggie now lives—owls, panthers, turtles, flamingoes, lobsters, and crabs-- even sharks circling the man-lobster in When the Tide Rises--have been newly transformed into a beautifully realized anthropomorphic stew. It is an old story made new again.

The entire Alice in Wonderland series will travel for the next few years, beginning at the Harn Museum at the University of Florida, Gainesville, and is accompanied by a lushly illustrated book. Maggie’s art has been collected by individuals, corporations, and museums worldwide including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Musee de la Photographie, Belgium and Museet for Fotokunst, Denmark.