Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley, Taman VanScoy’s early visual world consisted primarily of cityscapes, with only occasional glimpses of sun-drenched desert landscapes. During childhood trips to the Midwest to visit the family farm, he found himself instinctively drawn to nature. Yet, lacking the daily visual stimulation of wide-open, colorful landscapes, he began to idealize landscape compositions and color combinations in his mind. In essence, he created imaginary, dreamlike scenes, a practice that remains the first step in his painting process today.
Taman’s current body of work explores the idea of new beginnings represented by the changing seasons. Inspired by the springtime bloom of wildflowers across the state of Texas, he creates peaceful and evocative landscape scenes that capture the beautiful and mysterious qualities of nature.