News and Media

Published: Nov 5, 2010

SCAD exhibitions presents work by artist Alison Elizabeth Taylor

ATLANTA—The SCAD exhibitions department presents “Un/Inhabited,” an exhibition of intricate two and three-dimensional work by Alison Elizabeth Taylor, at the ACA Gallery of SCAD, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St., Nov. 9-Dec. 30. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Taylor introduces marquetry, a pictorial wood veneer inlay technique made popular during the French Renaissance and the reign of Louis XIV, into the vocabulary of contemporary art with uniquely envisioned painterly images. Through this detailed medium, once the mark of status and luxury, she elevates her subject matter—desolate Western landscapes and the outsiders who inhabit them. In doing so, her pieces are charged with commentary on the economic and resultant housing crisis manifest in America. The detailed portraits and contoured landscapes provide a momentary glimpse into the fragility of communities coming to terms with an unsteady financial climate.

“These two-dimensional pieces are a tangible representation of transactions that have gone down on paper in some unseen office that have radically changed people's lives,” said Taylor. “What struck me most about the foreclosure crisis is that when I began the research by visiting foreclosed homes, it was incredibly hard to get access to them––now after the tidal wave of foreclosures has eclipsed the banks' ability to keep up with them, I could easily find and gain entry.”

In addition to the two-dimensional work, “Un/Inhabited” features "Room" (2007-08), an installation featuring trompe l’oeil imagery inspired by the Duke of Urbino’s Studiolo from the Ducal Palace in Gubbio, Italy, (1479-82) in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Taylor’s contemporary interpretation of this masterpiece highlights her impeccable craftsmanship and broad artistic investigations that span time.

In addition to those at SCAD, Taylor has had recent solo exhibitions at The College of Wooster Art Museum, Wooster, Ohio (2009); and James Cohan Gallery, New York, New York (2010, 2008 and 2006). Her work was recently featured in the 185th Annual: Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art at the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, New York, New York. Her work has been reviewed in ARTnews, Art in America, Modern Painters, The New Yorker, New York magazine, The New York Times, the Village Voice, and The Washington Post, to name a few. She is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Competition Award in 2009. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

ACA Gallery of SCAD, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St., Atlanta, Georgia
Nov. 9-Dec. 30

Artist gallery talk: Tuesday, Nov. 9, 5:30 p.m.
Reception: Tuesday, Nov. 9, 6-7:30 p.m.

Gallery hours:

• Monday, closed
• Tuesday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
• Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Sunday, noon-5 p.m.

For more information, visit www.scadexhibitions.com.