By JACKSON BURNSIDE, For the Guardian

"As one of the first Bahamian artists, Maxwell is perhaps our most advanced. He is a stubbornly individualist artist that has followed his own vision, disregarding the commercial aspects of art that could have made his life so comfortable." These are the words that the late Brent Malone, a close friend and fellow artist, used in introducing Max Taylor at the opening of a one-man exhibition at Brent's Matinee Gallery, on Dec. 12, 1978.

After a lifetime of constant search and struggle, Taylor has established an international reputation of excellence, and has earned a celebrated place in a society that had no place for artists when he was born.

Born in 1939 in Grants Town, Taylor, along with Brent Malone and Kendall Hanna, was one of the first apprentices of the fabled Chelsea Pottery in Nassau. When the pottery closed in 1966, Max found his way to New York. This visit was to last approximately 20 years before he moved south to the Carolinas, and traveled extensively in Europe observing the social, economic, and political dynamics of many cultures. This exposure opened doors to the unique and intensely sensitive perception of the world of Maxwell Taylor.

Solidly grounded in the consciousness of his Bahamian background, and steeped in the pain and pleasure of the outside world, Taylor works incessantly to record both celebration and atrocity. The work of Max Taylor is a highly personal and spiritual odyssey, creating a timeless quality of the dignity and strength of suffering in the experience of mankind and nature.

Throughout the 60s and 70s, Taylor exhibited work in a number of shows throughout The Bahamas and the world. In 1962, he did his first one-man show at the Nassau Festival of Arts and Crafts under Meta Davis-Cumberbatch. In the 80s and 90s, Taylor continued on his upward spiral of international success, showing work around the United States and the world. In 1988, "Mother's Gone," one of his woodcuts, was purchased by the South Carolina Arts Commission for the state art collection. Several similar purchases were made in other states. And in 1989 he received the Southern Arts Federation National Fellowship award-National Endowment for the Arts, Works on Paper.

Taylor now lives between West Palm Beach and Nassau, and his engaged in sculpture and pottery work. His solo exhibition in March "The Other Side," featured his splash into boldly colored work, after a near lifetime of the use of somber colors. Taylor said of the show, "Psychologically there was always this thing about color that I really wanted to learn. Right now I think in a sense I've been able to establish my own style. I'm not really influenced by anybody else, so now I just use [color] to my advantage, making it dramatic in terms of what I'm trying to achieve."

Max Taylor is a versatile and accomplished technician and a master of a variety of media. He has been celebrated internationally as a painter and ceramicist, but it is without a doubt that the skills of a printmaker are where he finds his most eloquent voice. His large format prints are difficult to execute, and it is perhaps this challenge that fascinates the creator in this artist, who still enjoys the ancient technique of "cutting the wood."

This dogged determination to excel is obvious in his paintings also, which display the same elegance of design, detail and deep thought. In all these works the search for meaning, the depth of thinking and the joy of the graphics are evident. Taylor will tell you "I love to draw. I am constantly drawing. I make hundreds of drawings to develop my ideas" and it shows.

Like the legendary 'Exuma' Tony McKay exiled in New York and the Southern United States, Taylor never forgot his roots and has led the way in establishing a true-true Bahamian iconography.