Matthew Taylor is an American conceptual artist, filmmaker, and messaging strategist whose work spans sculpture, dance, fashion, film, performance, and computational media. Classically trained and informed by a rigorous understanding of art history and theory, his practice expands the definition of artists’ materials, exploring authorship, memory, power, and cultural transformation through an artist-driven lens. Taylor is the founder of Electrolift Creative, where he develops and directs feature documentaries and narrative works integrating art, culture, and contemporary history. His films include Gotham: The Fall and Rise of New York (2023), a look at the turn-around of New York City in the 1990s; Marcel Duchamp: The Art of the Possible (2020), an award-winning documentary on artist Marcel Duchamp that premiered at the Hirshhorn Museum; and Los Abandonados (2015), an internationally recognized investigative feature examining political corruption in Argentina. Taylor has filmed and conducted interviews with prominent figures including George W. Bush, Jeff Koons, and Marina Abramović. He is also a co-founder and creative director of Take Vienna, a multidisciplinary art collective producing experimental short films, performance works, and hybrid media projects such as Arcadia Sky—a multimedia work anchored by a concept album recorded with an orchestra in Sofia, Bulgaria.
A native of greater Washington, D.C., Taylor earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently a senior advisor at the National Endowment for the Humanities.