Neon Memories and Mythic Streets: Taylor Simmons Paints the Unseen Pulse of Black Identity
A bike crash in Brooklyn nearly cost Taylor Simmons his life—and his dreadlocks—but it also sparked a creative rebirth. The Atlanta-born artist, once a window designer at Ralph Lauren, turned his recovery into a full-time painting career, channeling existential questions into vivid, cinematic canvases.
Simmons’s work draws from a vast digital archive of images—snapshots of Black life, found everywhere from eBay to Instagram. He transforms these everyday moments into layered portraits that challenge how Black men are seen and understood, both by society and themselves.
Humor and pop culture references—like nods to Playboi Carti or viral Atlanta dances—thread through his art, balancing playfulness with sharp commentary on race and masculinity. Each painting samples from history, music, and literature, inviting viewers to dig deeper into the stories behind the faces.
For Simmons, every brushstroke is an act of myth-making, turning ordinary city corners into sites of beauty, struggle, and discovery—a living archive of overlooked lives.
#ContemporaryArt #BlackArtists #IdentityInArt #Culture
