Golf’s most famous instructor is Butch Harmon.  For 11 years, he coached Tiger Woods and is considered the best teacher in the game.  He had been struggling with his weight for a while and after changing up his diet, lost a whopping  50 pounds.  I was commissioned by GOLF DIGEST‘s Art Drector, Ken Delago, to create a double page spread in the magazine of sort of a “before and after”, of Butch.  It doesn’t often happen in editorial assignments but my sketch was sent to Butch for approval -  and he ended up liking it.  This was a really fun piece to work on.  Remember folks, eat your veggies!

“Solutionism has become a problem, in part, because both the public and the policymakers are so excited about having technology companies step in and solve problems that were previously handled by some public agency or, more likely, were not seen as problems at all. So as gadgets and connectivity become ubiquitous, it becomes possible to track everything we do and thus steer us away from doing things we shouldn’t be doing, be it smoking or eating unhealthy food; for policy-makers – and we can already detect some of that rhetoric coming from the pro-nudging crowd – it’s much easier to have your smartphone tell you not to eat something than to engage in deep and structural reform that would make other alternatives easier to find. So, at a very basic level, having Silicon Valley handle some of these problems – and its CEOs are keen to emphasize their own commitment to various problem-solving initiatives (I have many quotes) – may be solving the problems but only at the cost of complicating the life of citizens, placing an additional burden on them.”

-Evgeny Morozov, about his case against Silicon Vally’s “Solutionism” ideology.

This was the cover and inside illustration for today’s Sunday Review for The New York Times.  The AD was wonderful Aviva Michaelov, who always calls me for assignments that I immensely enjoy.

Next week, I will be on a panel at The Design Exchange in Toronto showing some of my work and talking about what makes me happy.

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My portrait of Adam Sandler for Rolling Stone (below).  I find for some faces, it’s better to avoid any stylization and go straight for a realistic rendering.  After all, the goal is to capture a likeness and above all, that is paramount.

Here is a portrait I created of Orson Welles for Entertainment Weekly (below).  This one was really easy because Orson looks like my work.  The article was also interesting.  It was about how the film studio was mad at Welles for creating all these art films, which were nothing like his blockbuster hit Citizen Kane.  The studio refused to release these films including one titled, Mr. Arkadin.

Below is a portrait based on a fictional character in a novel called Sacred Games.  This illustration, a Bollywood spy thriller, was created for The New York Times Book Review.  This was also easy because I could completely make up any sort of likeness.

Below is a piece called Vikram.  It’s my favourite kind of portrait to do because he doesn’t exist.  I like to draw the characters in a style that evoke a degree of seriousness that would make the viewer think it is an actual portrait of someone real -  which is really fun to do.

All images © Gary Taxali – All Rights Reserved

I love working for Intelligent Life Magazine.  It’s a beautifully designed publication packed with great articles and information.  For a while now, I’ve been illustrating the Science Column for the magazine and am learning a lot about such topics as quasi crystals, infared earth sounds, Mars and hunting new planets (to name a few).

Here’s a piece I recently illustrated about Arthur Tansley, the botanist who coined the term, “ecosystem” was analyzed by Freud.

I have always been fascinated by the myriad connections between art and music.  I don’t possess any musical talent but have been very fortunate to work with so many amazing musicians such as Aimee Mann.  One of my longtime great friends is also the rock musician, DANKO JONES.  Danko has an amazing career with the band he fronts with the same name.  For those who know their music and/or have seen the band live, I don’t need to tell you how amazing they are.  If you don’t know them, check them out and when you become an instant fan, thank me later.

A short while ago, he started doing a podcast called THE OFFICIAL DANKO JONES PODCAST.  Danko and his co-host, comedian Nick Flanagan, have a great rapport discussing various topics and doing interviews with all kinds of guests who have mostly been rock musicians and comedians.  One guest was Sam Dunn, documentary filmmaker most known for his film “Metal:  A Headbanger’s Journey”.  Danko and Nick also interviewed comedian/actor Scott Thompson who was one of the stars of the hit Canadian TV series, “Kids in the Hall”.

In the most recent podcast, Danko and Nick have me on as a guest.  Danko and I go way back so it’s a very casual, fun conversation we have.  He and Nick raise some great questions and I have to honestly say, it was one of the most refreshing interviews I have ever done.  I hope you enjoy it!  You can listen/subscribe to it through iTunes or Sound Cloud.

Listen to the podcast by clicking HERE.

Rock on!!

Album cover and some inside art for Aimee Mann’s album “@#%&*! Smilers”.  We were nominated for a Grammy for Best Art Package.

Private commission for Long Gone John, owner of record label Sympathy for the Record Industry.

My custom painted Qee figure, “Poof”.