Alison Elizabeth Taylor, The Good War, 2006
The Good War, 2006. Wood inlay, shellac. 60 x 46 inches
Alison Elizabeth Taylor
American, born 1973
The Good War, 2006
Alison Elizabeth Taylor transforms the historic technique of marquetry (wood inlay) into a new form—a synthesis of media and process using inlaid wood, painting, and collaged textures. Her work depicts the changing Southwestern landscape and the rural survivalists, hedonists, squatters, and economic misfits of late American capitalism who inhabit it. A Nevadan who grew up through boom and bust cycles in Las Vegas, Taylor derives her tableaux from direct observation. There is a volatile tension between the surface and the subject; as she explains, “The natural beauty inherent in finished wood draws attention to themes more subtle or complex. The splendor of the shellacked wood is an invitation to look at subjects the viewer might otherwise ignore.”
Alison Elizabeth Taylor received her M.F.A. from Columbia University. Selected solo exhibitions include: The Needle’s Eye, Zidoun & Bossuyt, Luxembourg, The Backwards Forwards, James Cohan Gallery; Musée Historique, Chateau de Nyon, Switzerland; Un/Inhabited at SCAD, Savannah and Atlanta, GA. Group shows include: Personal Space, Crystal Bridges Museum of America Art, Bentonville, AR (2018); Makeshift, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, WI (2018) curated by Michelle Grabner; I See Myself in You: Selections from the Collection, Brooklyn Museum of Art (2016); Crafted: Objects in Flux, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (2015); First International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Cartagena de Indias, Cartagena, Colombia (2014); Branching Out: Trees as Art, Peabody Essex Museum, MA, (2014); BEYOND EARTH ART: Contemporary Artists and the Environment, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, NY (2014); Unfolding Tales: Selection from the Collection, Brooklyn Museum of Art (2013); Surface Value, Des Moines Art Center, IA (2011); 185th Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, NY (2010). In 2009, Taylor received a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award and the Smithsonian's Artist Research Fellowship Program Award.