Newbern Taylor embodies the past as he waxes poetically on a technology-driven present.

Nearly fifty years ago, he was mastering the world of commercial art while crafting psychedelic compositions in his spare time. He’s reinvented himself in the face of divergent interests, picking and choosing aspects of his persona to suit his surroundings and times. His clients over the years include some of the largest international mega-corporations, yet, today, he chooses to live in Ruidoso, New Mexico.

Inconsistent? Perhaps. The unhinged life story of an eternal hippie? Probably.

Fascinating? Definitely. A talk with Taylor is a romp through the hey-day of the 1960’s, a whirlwind of reminiscences of relationships with rock stars, fashion models and underground artists, a marketing primer written in the shadows of New York’s skyscrapers and a present day reminder of lost opportunities spoken always with an optimism towards the future. “I’m not sure where I’m going,” he says, staring off into the distance. “But it will be great.”

Taylor is the subject of ENMU-Ruidoso’s art exhibit from September 30 through December 13 in the campus library. A reception will be held October 8 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. (This was written in 2014.) The retrospective focuses on Taylor’s works from 1967-1983. The scope is impressive. “There’s something to appeal to everyone,” he explains. “It doesn’t matter if you are conservative, a nature lover or like edgy works. There will be a work on a wall and someone will say ‘Hey, I really dig that.’”

All the works are for sale. “Everything is my favorite, but it is absurd for me to hold onto them.” Commercial and non-commissioned works are represented and include drawings and sketches for album covers, rock posters, logos, advertisements and freelance work. Taylor’s distinctive style ties the pieces together; a type of surrealism of recognizable subject matter interspersed with images that are bound to carry special connotations for the viewer.

Faced with a conglomeration of a flying fish here, a flamingo there, faces of people, real and imagined, fairies and/or subtle symbols, it is possible to see something new each time. “I don’t try and say anything. It is up to the viewer to look at a piece and pull images together based on their own life experience.”

Taylor works in pen and ink and colored pencil. As an illustrator in New York during the early 1960’s, not many illustrators used this media. Today, many artists enjoy the ability to blend color while retaining the precision of drawing with a pencil. Taylor takes his own photographs as referential material. When asked about what he thinks of computer programs like Adobe Photoshop, he becomes surprisingly invigorated.

“Graphic artists today aren’t just knocking stuff out. They know about concepts like shading. When I was designing interiors for the Hyatt Regency, I worked with a blueprint. If the client wanted to see another color, I’d take it back and have to re-draw it. Now that can be done on a computer with one click. Listen, I don’t want to be an old fogie on a porch, scratching my dog’s ear resenting the new stuff. I have to look back and remember my days as a hippie being criticized as being wrong. I want to be modern, but in the autumn of my career I just can’t get used to a screen.”

He can work, however, alongside computer artists. He worked as an art director for an internet provider and designs websites today. “It’s exactly like a two-page spread in a magazine.” He also designed icons for an early online grocery store. “I’ve done a variety of stuff. While most of the people around me specialized in a certain style or subject matter, I drew everything and anything. I had no schooling, so I just drew. I drew raccoons, cars, deer, fashion stuff and hamburgers. Clients looked through my portfolio and tried to peg me, but they couldn’t. Often I was paid to imitate another style or look. I always had work because I was versatile. I could work with a number of clients within a single company.”

In the face of hodge podge assignments, Taylor struggled with his own identity. “As I faced all these styles and demands, I found myself groping for who I was.” At one time, he drew illustrations under a woman’s pseudonym, just to shake things up. For a while, he was Jason Kidd. The title of the exhibit is “George Werth Jr. Art Exhibit: Newbern Taylor Early Works 1967-83.” Now, and after nearly 50 years in the business, he seems almost at peace, even as he jumps from one topic to another, anxious to share his knowledge and opinions on any number of topics with anyone who will listen.

His advice for artists today? His answer is characteristically contradictory: “Find a niche. There are so many options out there. It used to be that a person got a job, made a living, started a family, made it so kids would have a better life and then retired from that same job. Now young people might have three or four different careers. And starting young! There are 19 year-old art directors out there. A vocation or work is no longer separated from avocation or what we want to do. Like to collect leaves and press them in books? Be an online consultant. There are all kinds of books on every subject, like scrapbooking. Beautiful books. Anything you can imagine can be realized because of technology. Plus, you can sell anything on the web. Luckily for me, there is a respect for old world guys. Some of those young art directors are looking for old school people to draw, so I’m still in the mix.”

Taylor will be 70 years old soon and as he looks back on the breadth of his experience with the looming possibility of a new identity, he has a wealth of work to draw upon plus the sense of humor borne of being “in the mix” during such tumultuous and defining times. “If someone had told me that rock music would help to sell Cadillacs….” He smiles, trailing off and shaking his head in disbelief. He looks up suddenly as if experiencing an epiphany. “You know, I used to work with collages…I did a collage of photographs based on the Battle of Britain and then drew it like a still life. I could make adjustments as I drew. I changed the turret coming out of a woman’s shoulder, and then….Yeah, I might do that.” Again he stares off into the distance, smiling, no doubt visualizing a new composition and, with it, maybe a new persona.

Newbern Taylor will be on hand during the reception on October 8 to encourage young artists and to share his experiences and talk about his work. What he will not do is explain what his work means. That is up to the viewer.