Get to know local stencil artist Bill Taggart (aka DadSocks)! He is creating captivating portraits and murals around that can be seen all across the valley!
Bill’s artwork showcases a variety of imagery from animals boldly depicted in vivid colors to celebrities depicted simply in black and white. Offering a new perspective to his viewers allows them to see these images through fresh eyes, taking away the mundane or cliché and presenting a new work of art.
Taggart is a stencil artist, which involves a fascinating method of layering different shades of spray paint with hand cut or laser cut stencils. It’s definitely a labor of love for Taggart, who says he spends between 15 to 60 hours to complete a piece from concept to canvas. When asked about being an artist he said “my biggest challenge is expressing ideas visually, making aesthetically pleasing art is one thing, but provoking deeper thought is much more difficult”, says Taggart.
Taggart is an Arizona transplant originally from New Jersey where he initially discovered his love for stencil art while watching street artists create in New York. His work is greatly influenced by hip hop culture, social justice, and urban murals. Taggart has studied at a university in the South, done non-profit work in the Middle East, even took a nature-focused sabbatical in Central America, and now spends lots of time in downtown Phoenix see the power that art holds in terms of communication.
His artwork has been popping up all over the Arizona art scene participating in a variety of events. Most recently he participated in the Fifth Annual Project Ethos this past April at the W Scottsdale, displaying several pieces from his Twenty Percent series that highlighted hip-hop artists. Taggart had his first solo exhibition in May at the Revival Art Collective in Phoenix. Exhibiting work that explored the Protests in Ukraine, highlighting both the police and protestors stance on the situation that were both emotional and raw emphasizing the humanity of the situation.
In addition to his artwork he is always busy with commission based portraits and murals, most recently completing a mural at Redemption in Tempe. Taggart is busy in his studio working on his latest body of work that he hopes to début in early 2015. Want to see more work from Bill Taggart then be sure to check out his website www.dadsocks.com!
*Images Courtesy of the Artist
