ArtView February 2016 | Page 28

Photo by Pete Moore S&L www.snakesandladders.tv Noah Taylor is best known for his work as an actor, with roles in films such as Shine, Almost Famous and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as well as the HBO series Game of Thrones. He is now gaining increasing recognition for his work as a visual artist. "Noah Taylor's haunted portraits stare back at us and we can't help but be touched by their strange, blank beauty." - Nick Cave Have you had any formal training as an artist? I haven't had any formal training outside of some rudimentary high school art classes. Our art teacher Peter Fowler was great in that he gave us free reign to do whatever we wanted resulting in some pretty crazed teen artwork. My oeuvre at the time was highly offensive and violent. I wish I had some record of it. Beyond that I'm self taught and recognise that my technical abilities are fairly limited. It's limiting in that there's a whole range of subjects I'd like to paint but lack the requisite skills to carry it off. I try to use those