Anyone who follows Norfolk’s Walt Taylor on Facebook is reminded, multiple times a day, that we are in the presence of creative greatness.
Walt must be the most prolific artist in Hampton Roads, every day taking the raw material of our world, and transforming it into images and words that are surgically insightful, visually interesting, and just plain damn fun to experience.
If you read the paper you’ve seen his wonderful political commentary. You can scroll through them here. Walt is certainly one of the finest political cartoonists working in America right now. We are incredibly lucky to have him here, helping us process this crazy life we’re trying to live through together.
Walt Taylor’s first name should be Local Treasure. He’s the drawing prince of Cafe Stella. If you must make me state my bias plainly, I love Walt Taylor, and I know a lot of you do, too.
Walt’s latest masterpiece is a video he created for TD Lind’s song “Bow Down.” Here’s how the project came about, in Walt’s own words:
“A good friend of mine in Ojai, California, heard a new song being performed by a friend of hers and decided it needed a satirical visual accompaniment by me, and since she’s a person to whom you can’t say no, I couldn’t say no,” said Walt. “Fortunately, the song was brilliant and had a good strong beat, and Tim was wide open to whatever I wanted to bring to it. I struggled with it over the summer, and didn’t really believe I could finish until I was almost finished. It was definitely the longest sustained project I have ever worked on. I was fortunate, too, that the current political season was providing more than enough raw material for me. I just hope I’ve done Tim’s song justice–and that it gets heard by as many people as possible.”
According to Lind’s person, Lauren Mele, “‘Bow Down’ weaves a story capturing today’s current socio-political climate and the often uncontested process of the powers that be. Taking aim at everyone from Trump to the Clinton’s and everything from pharmaceuticals to housing, Lind deftly speaks a collective point of view many share, regardless of political affiliation.”
Check it out:
As you would guess, this project was no easy trick.
“My process was old-school cel animation, meaning several individual drawings for every second of music, created in Photoshop and joined to the music track in Final Cut Pro,” said Walt. “Definitely a labor-intensive process, but one that gave me maximum control.”
Lind was excited to collaborate with Walt.
“This is a song I’ve been kicking around for several years now and it’s as universal and timeless now as it was back then,” he said. “When I thought of the storyboard I wanted to find a political satirist who would have their own experiences and ideas to draw from and inject them into the video as well as my own. The great Walt Taylor is that man.”
If Walt won’t agree to change his first name to Local Treasure, going by The Great Walt Taylor will work just fine as well.
There is a collection of Walt’s work, ROGUES’ GALLERY, available at the Pilot Store.
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Jesse often writes about the causes he believes in, including public art, public education, improved mental health care and awareness, the NEON District, government transparency, civic engagement, the decriminalization of marijuana, alternative transportation, and supporting local businesses and culture.
In a former life Jesse was a public school teacher in Brooklyn and San Diego, and a mentor at a home for young men in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a devoted yogi, Knicks fan, live music lover, and road tripper.
To reach this writer, email jesse -at- altdaily.com.