Body of prayer: an interview with Steed Taylor.

ST: There is kind of a performance quality to these in that I'm creating this in public and there is a ceremonial element during a specific point in its creation. So, in a sense, it's performance but I question that a little bit even if it does apply. People can watch me make this work so it is performance art but it's their participation I'd really like--helping with the design, being present for the commemoration and prayer, bringing their energy to the process--it is their road I'm using after all.

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JH: Your work is the first I've seen citing prayer in the list of media.

ST: I hope there is somebody else! One of my interests in art is the idea of loss and longing and for me that naturally leads to the idea of spirituality--honoring that which has left us or that which is about to leave. It can be emotionally vivid stuff but it's what life is about. Prayer helps frame this experience, making it more accessible and easier to process, yet still emphasizing how worthy it is of our respect and focus. Most of the prayers I use are commissioned for a specific Road Tattoo. I ask writers to be as inclusive of all beliefs as possible and the results can be really amazing.

JH: I was thinking spirituality and prayer might be one of the last taboos in art.

ST: Yes, I think it is and using taboos in the art world can keep an artist out of the critical dialogue. It's something people don't understand or they back away from so much that they don't feel comfortable discussing. That's the down side of a taboo--it's kind of like the "unfashionability" of AIDS we were talking about earlier.

JH: There is a kind of radical simplicity that I find refreshing in your work that allows this gut-level connection that goes beyond the smart and clever.

ST: In the times we're in right now, maybe a more ironic, tongue-in-cheek kind of art rules. That's the sort of artwork that is embraced and becomes part of the critical dialogue. Perhaps, at this point, spirituality isn't such a popular topic to be discussed in artwork. The hard thing about being an artist making work that isn't part of what's popular is accepting that and going on with it.

JH: A lot of the ways you are working now don't result in a typical art product--how does that effect your options for getting the work seen?

ST: Work like the Road Tattoos doesn't exist in a traditional gallery setting so it's been a challenge to bring them inside the "white box" in some way. A crucial part of the Road Tattoos is experiencing them, driving over them, so the first challenge was deciding if I even wanted them inside. I'm facing these challenges with a show next year. It will have large photographs, scale diagrams, drawings, studies, and the prayers. I can't decide if I want the prayers read or heard, so I guess I've got more work to do!

JH: What do you want to make certain that readers understand about you as an artist?

ST: The only other thing I wanted to say is that I have this idea about being an artist: I feel that it's a profession that you are chosen to do. To a degree, you can't not do it--it's part of who you are and part of how you exist in the world, how you express yourself, how you communicate. I love that idea. We are churning out lots of people with art degrees who don't continue to practice art. It's important to realize this calling and continue to make art in some way even if it doesn't lead to wealth and fame. That's one of the things I wanted to get across, especially for younger artists. Whether the world likes what you make or not, you've got to keep working. There is something about the process that makes you better; it helps you develop a clearer idea of who you are and what the world is about. And that's what we need, more self-aware people to make the world better, make people think more, and make people aware of the world in a new way.

JOANNA HEATWOLE is an assistant professor of time-based media at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York.

NOTE 1. "The Unfashionability of AIDS" by Steed Taylor, part of a forum with Thomas Sokolowski, et al. See www.artistswithaids.org/artery/symposium/symposium_taylor.html.