BY GILLIAN ANSTEY

NO newcomer to public art, Angus Taylor has completed several commissions for government, local councils, private companies and individuals.

Taylor grew up in Johannesburg and the Vaal Triangle in Gauteng. After school, he travelled around the country, did his stint in the army and later studied Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria, graduating with honours in 1997.

In 1994, he won PPC National Young Sculptors’ Award. After tutoring in drawing and sculpture, he started his own business in 1998. Since then, he has taken part in many group exhibitions and has held five solo shows. He teaches part time at the University of Pretoria and advises at Tshwane University of Technology. In 1998, he started a company called DSW (Dionysus Sculpture Works) and has since completed numerous commissions for governments, local councils, private companies and individuals. In 2005 he was named Alumni Laureate by the University of Pretoria.

"There seems, these days, to be some type of hierarchy in art where the seemingly conceptual genres (which may often be related to the emperor’s clothes) are more highly rated than those works which are successful both in terms of concept and technical execution," says Taylor. "The type of art that I appreciate enchants and fascinates me with the execution and the concept behind it."