Rodney Taylor (b. 1966 - d. 2019) created somber, yet hopeful, paintings utilizing materials such as acrylic, flashe, pastel, pencil, and clay to channel the frantic energy of our environment and highlight the vulnerabilities of a changing world. Prior to his passing in 2019, Taylor exhibited widely across Western New York, with solo presentations at Nina Freudenheim, Eleven Twenty Projects, UB Art Galleries, and Hallwalls Contemporary Center. Most recently, Taylor was included in Open House: Domestic Thresholds, alongside Heather Hart and Edra Soto, at the Albright Knox Northland. Other group exhibitions include presentations at Rochester Contemporary Art Center; Empire Fine Arts, Miami; Langston Hughes Cultural Center, Buffalo; The Drawing Center, New York; Kenny Schacter; and the Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, among others. Taylor was a resident at Skowhegan in 1994, and attended FIT, Cooper Union, and matriculated from Bard in 1996. He lived in Buffalo with his wife and four children until his death in 2019. 

SELECT Solo & Group Exhibitions

• The Burden of Water, Rivalry Projects, Buffalo, NY, 2025

• Open House: Domestic Thresholds by Heather Hart, Edra Soto, and Rodney Taylor, Albright-Knox Northland, Buffalo, New York, 2019

• No Better Soil, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester, New York, Curator Bleu Cease, 2018

• Home?, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 2017

• Grey, Eleven Twenty Projects, Buffalo, New York, 2016

• Amid/In WNY, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY; Curator, Jon Massier, 2015

• Impure Abstraction, 20-year Survey, UB Art Galleries, Center for the Arts, State University at Buffalo of New York;  Curator Sandra Firman, 2014

• Beyond/In WNY, Anderson Gallery, State University at Buffalo of New York, Buffalo, NY; Curator Sandra Firman, 2010

• Rodney Taylor, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, New York; Curator Jon Massier, 2008

Public + PRIVATE Collections

• Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

• Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York

• Roswell Park Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York

• Brice and Helen Marden

• Donald Baechler