Kitchen

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Kitchen

Artist Alison Elizabeth Taylor (American, born 1973)

Date2014

DimensionsH: 92 in. (233.7 cm); W: 116 in. (294.6 cm)

MediumWood veneer, oil, acrylic and shellac

ClassificationMixed Media

Credit LinePurchased with funds given in memory of Larry Thompson by his children and grandchildren

Object number

2014.22

Not on View

DescriptionA large scale work that utilizes Taylor’s signature combination of marquetry and paint to depict a contemporary but eerily post-apocalyptic scene

Label TextAt first glance you may assume this work is paint on canvas or board. But look carefully—most of the image is composed of inlayed wood. Alison Taylor has become well-known for reinvigorating the Renaissance craft of marquetry, or intarsia wood inlay, which she combines with painting. Describing this synthesis, Taylor explains, “What interests me is a new type of surface created by the contrast of the textural qualities of the wood and the depth afforded by the paint. I found this tension was just what I needed to convey the otherworldly feeling I encountered in real life when I observed how nature adapts and mutates to accommodate encounters with the ever-encroaching urban environment.” Kitchen is a meditation on the power of adaptation in the aftermath of disaster. The kitchen—once a comforting symbol of hearth and home—is here transformed into a scene of survival: an invasive tree limb, clothes drying on its branches, has collapsed through the ceiling. A useless refrigerator is now a habitat, breeding wild birds (for food?). A cooler becomes a temporary solution for keeping perishables, and the oven houses charcoal for cooking.Published ReferencesAlison Taylor: Savage Root, Nyon, Chateau de Nyon, 2015, repr. (col.) p. [15-16].

Alison Elizabeth Taylor: The Sum of it, Andover, MA: Addison Gallery of American Art, 2022, repr. (col.) p. 64-65.

Exhibition HistoryNew York, James Cohan Gallery, 2014, The Fifth Season, June 26–August 8, 2014. Des Moines, IA, Des Moines Art Center; Andover, MA, Addison Gallery of American Art, Alison Elizabeth Taylor, October 14, 2022 - July 31, 2023.