Opener shows recent works by Sally Taylor on found cardboard and mainly works-in-progress. The exhibition is a culmination of recent drawing activity, the formation of collaged objects and experimental installations made in the artist’s studio at AHH Studio Collective, Malton, North Yorkshire, where she is also a Founding Director.

In June 2024, the artist undertook a residency at Vessel with painter, Deb Covell, and Opener builds on the experimentation that took place during this time of collaboration and discussion. Artist Deb Covell has curated this show as part of the artists’ ongoing dialogue with materials, making rituals, methods and processes. Both artists focused on the theme of ‘play’ during their residency – using Richard Serra’s Verb List (1967) as a starting point for making and presenting works in conjunction with each other. In this show, Taylor’s works remain ‘playful’ and unfinished and may take on new incarnations following on from this presentation.

Taylor’s drawings affirm a desire to understand more about human relationships, specifically her own interaction with others. Using found materials enables the superimposition of marks in relation to the personal history of the surface, with a focus on formal concerns and the creation of emotional resonance. Geometric shapes become ‘blockages’ or ‘openings’ and the recurring motifs of ‘smiling mouths’ aim to unravel social constructs surrounding the unsaid and non-verbal interaction.

The artist has worked on found materials and grounds for many years with an established studio practice of almost 30 years, and recent work spanning the last five years has been informed by the series Cardboards, 1971, by Robert Rauschenberg. Her research interests include working on or with found materials, alongside the formation of intuitive marks that oscillate between figurative and abstract motifs.