Celebrated and Acclaimed artist, Gary Taxali, collaborates with the Royal Mint
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CONTEMPORARY ARTIST, GARY TAXALI, GETS APPOINTED TO THE STAMP ADVISORY COMMITTEE Acclaimed artist gets appointed to the Canadian Stamp Advisory Committee: TORONTO, ON. – DECEMBER 6, 2011 – Internationally acclaimed contemporary visual artist and award-winning illustrator, Gary Taxali, whose work has appeared for hundreds of clients including The New York Times, Sony, Warner Brothers, gets appointed to the Stamp Advisory Committee for Canada Post. Taxali is known for his vivid and nostalgic pop art iconography reminiscent of the 1930s with the pop culture sensibilities of masters like Keith Haring and Andy Warhol. Taxali’s unmistakable and immediately recognizable imagery infuses pop surrealism with a fine art perspective. Taxali has won hundreds of awards for his illustration work and has juried many committees as a visual curator for many arts related competitions such as the 2010 and 2011 Junos, 2010 Geminis, the Art Directors Club of Houston, Dallas Society of Visual Communications and others. The Stamp Advisory Committee, established by the Board of Directors of Canada Post in 1969, meets three times a year. It consists of 12 members including philatelists, historians, authors, museum curators, graphic designers and visual artists. Members are chosen to ensure representation of the country as a whole, with an eye to gender and cultural diversity. The group recommends stamp subjects suggested by organizations and the public to the Board of Directors, who approves the program, and makes decisions on stamp designs. The Committee’s objective is to help ensure the Canadian stamp program fully represents Canada’s culture, history, heritage, heroes, achievements and traditions. According to the Chairman of the Stamp Advisory Committee, Robert Waite, “Gary’s sheer wealth of talent and vast knowledge of visual art will add yet another dimension to the significant intellectual and creative resources we have on the Committee.” Taxali is also the first South Asian to sit on the Committee, a sign of Canada Post’s desire to ensure the Committee continues to reflect the cultural diversity of the country. About Gary Taxali: Gary Taxali is an award-winning illustrator and fine artist. Taxali is known for taking his unique characters, graphics, symbols and icons and intertwining them to produce works of fine art. His signature pop culture works are infused with 1930s-style packaging, posters, typography and advertising with original and sophisticated characters and graphics onto distressed surfaces. In addition to working for many clients in the advertising, design and editorial worlds, he devotes a portion of his time teaching and lecturing at various organizations and schools, including Danmarks Designskole (Copenhagen), Istituto Europeo Di Design (Rome) and OCAD University, where he is a faculty member. He has won over 500 awards including a Gold Medal from The Society of Illustrators, and a National Gold Addy. He was shortlisted for a Cannes Lion and in 2009, he received a Grammy nomination for Best Package for Aimee Mann’s album” “@#%&*! Smilers”. His unique retro style has appeared on the covers of Newsweek, and he has clients as diverse as Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, Warner Brothers, Sony, and The New York Times. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada. Gary just released two books on his art entitled, “I Love You, Ok” published by teNeues and “Mono Taxali” published by 27_9. Both are available at the Art Gallery of Ontario and other stores. |