Gary Taxali is a Canadian contemporary fine artist and illustrator known for his iconic retro style pop art and illustrations. Taxali creates mixed-media works on paper, sculptures, drawings and paintings. His work intersects fine art, pop culture, design and 1930s style iconography, graphics and typography. He is noted as one of the top 100 Illustrators in the world by Taschen (2017).

Gary Taxali was born in Chandigarh, India and raised in Toronto, Canada. Taxali graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD). His fine artwork has been exhibited in galleries in the United States (Jonathan Levine Gallery (NYC), Yves LaRoche (Montreal), Lazarides (London)) and Europe (Antonio Colombe Gallery) as well as museums such as the Andy Warhol Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Contemporary Art Museum in Rome.

His retro stylized art is reminiscent of the 1930s and best described as “reinvented pop art” and rooted from an award winning illustration background. His art has a low brow/high brow appeal. It can be seen in galleries around the world such as Lazarides (London), Jonathan Levine Gallery (NYC), Yves LaRoche (Montreal) and The Andy Warhol Museum.

He has won hundreds of illustration and design awards including a Grammy nomination for his album cover artwork for Aimee Mann’s, “Smilers” in 2009. His work is also seen in magazines and editorials (GQ, Esquire, New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone etc.), products (such as the Royal Canadian Mint Coins), designer toys (collaboration with Chapters Indigo) and fashion (collaboration with Harry Rosen).

Gary has also served as a juror for The Juno’s (Screening Committee) and has also juried many student and professional competitions including The Society of Illustrators, The National Magazine Awards, The Dallas Society of Visual Communications and 3×3: The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. He serves on Canada Post’s Stamp Advisory Committee and is a tenured Professor at OCAD University.

Gary has written a children’s book called, “This Is Silly!” published by Scholastic and he also has two monographs of his work, “I Love You, Ok?” published by TeNeues and “Mono Taxali” published by 279 Editions.In 2005, he launched his first vinyl toy, The Toy Monkey, which included a special edition along with a silkscreen print commissioned by The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. This led Gary to create his own toy company, Chump Toys, which recently saw the release of his OH NO and OH OH vinyl figures. In 2012, The Royal Canadian Mint released a special edition of six Gary Taxali 25¢ coins which, in addition to original art uniquely created for the coins, Taxali also did the typography using his font Chumply. Each coin is stamped bearing his initials.

Aside from his gallery shows and illustration work, Gary also devotes a portion of his time teaching and lecturing at various arts organizations and schools such as OCAD University (Toronto, Canada), The Art Director’s Club of Houston (Houston, USA), Dankmarks Designskole (Copenhagen, Denmark) and Istituto Europeo Di Design (Rome, Italy). He was invited to speak to SKAD in Hong Kong in Dec 2013 and October 2014.

He is a Founding Member of IPA (The Illustrators’ Partnership of America). Gary has also juried many student and professional competitions including The Juno’s (Screening Committee), The Society of Illustrators, The National Magazine Awards, The Dallas Society of Visual Communications and 3×3: The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration and sits on the Advisory Board of 3×3: The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. He lives and works in Toronto.

In 2011, two books of his work were released: Mono Taxali, published by 279 Editions, and I Love You, Ok? published by teNeues. In 2012, the Royal Canadian Mint released a special edition of six 25 cent coins which feature Taxali’s artwork. In 2017, Gary published his new book “Happiness With A Caveat” featuring works from the past few years.

"Gary Taxali visually blends now with then. His style, inspired by vintage comics and advertising art, is repurposed with the goal of communicating the ironies and comical essence of popular culture. His work is at once alluring and endearing. Despite the vintage look, he is neither maudlin nor nostalgic. His imagery is rich in satiric verve."

Steven Heller

Currency

Gary Taxali | Monday