Neil Taylor was born in Brisbane in 1953, and studied as an art teacher in Queensland.
He has been exhibiting in Australia since 1975, and his work has won numerous awards and is held in art collections in Australia and overseas.
With superb technical skill, Neil paints in a super-realist style. Inspired by the beaches of Australia and America, Neil creates intimate, idealised views of sandy beaches, waterfalls, rockpools and ocean waves. He also focuses on bush landscapes in NSW, from the Northern Rivers to the Blue Mountains and further west.
Neil is a recipient of many prizes, including the Mortimore Art Prize, Mount Eyre Art Prize, Gosford Art Prize and Temora Art Prize. He has won the People's and Viewer's Choice award for numerous prizes, including the Calleen Art Prize (2013) and Mosman Art Prize (2015) and is regularly selected for major awards, such as the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, Tattersall's Club Landscape Prize, Calleen Art Award and Hadley's Art Prize. He is also a 10-times finalist in the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes exhibited at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Recent Exhibitions
2018 A Distant Now, Day Gallery Blackheath
2017 Wagner Contemporary Sydney
2016 Wagner Contemporary Sydney
2015 Wagner Gallery Sydney
2014 Wagner Gallery Sydney
2012 Wagner Gallery Sydney
2011 Wagner Gallery Sydney
2011 Blue Bicycle Gallery Byron Bay
2010 Wagner Gallery Sydney
2010 Cook’s Hill Gallery Newcastle
2009 Cook’s Hill Gallery Newcastle
2008 Wagner Gallery Sydney
2007 Wagner Gallery Sydney
2005 Wagner Gallery Sydney
2004 Royall Fine Art Kent UK
2002 Port Jackson F.A. Laguna Beach CA
2001 Cooks Hill Galleries Newcastle
Commendations & Projects:
2021: Glover Art Prize, Paddington Art Prize, Finalist; Hadley's Art Prize, Finalist; Calleen Art Award, Finalist.
2020: King's School Art Prize, Finalist
2019: Paddington Art Prize, Finalist
2018: Tattersall's Club Landscape Art Prize, Finalist
2017: NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, Finalist; KAAF Art Prize, Finalist; Calleen Art Award, Finalist
2016: Tattersall's Club Landscape Art Prize, Finalist; KAAF Art Prize, Finalist
2015: KAAF Art Prize, Finalist; Mosman Art Prize, Finalist and Winner of Viewer's Choice Award; Calleen Art Prize, Finalist
2014: Temora Art Prize, Winner; Stanthorpe Art Prize, Finalist; Calleen Art Prize, Finalist; NSW Parliament Plein Air Art Prize, Finalist; Lethbridge 1,000 Small Scale Art Award, Finalist
2013: Paddington Art Prize, Finalist; King’s School Art Prize, Finalist; Calleen Art Award, Finalist and Winner of People’s Choice Award
2012: Tattersall’s Art Prize, Finalist; New South Wales Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, Finalist