How the Studiolo from Gubbio inspired Alison Elizabeth Taylor’s “Room”

Studiolo & Room - Juxtaposed

Alison Elizabeth Taylor’s remarkable story

Taylor was born in 1974 in Selma, Alabama and grew up in Las Vegas. She earned a BFA in 2001 from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and an MFA in 2005 from Columbia University. While in graduate school, she taught herself wood inlay techniques by reading hobby books and researching online. She was inspired by a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she encountered the conserved and reconstructed 15th century studiolo, or study, from the ducal palace in Gubbio, Italy. Commissioned by the Duke of Urbino for his residence, the study features marquetry paneled walls that appear to be lined with cupboards whose open doors reveal items such as armor, insignia, musical instruments and books. These objects are intended to suggest the duke’s erudition, power, position and ability to afford such an elaborate and labor-intensive method of decorating his private space. Taylor creates a tension in her work by using the same methods associated with luxury and power to portray ordinary and often unsettling scenes of modern American life.

Taylor has had two solo exhibitions at the James Cohan Gallery in New York and a solo show at the College of Wooster Art Museum in Ohio. Her work has also been featured in numerous group exhibitions in London, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Shanghai. Crystal Bridges is the first public museum to hold Taylor’s work in its permanent collection.

[Biographical narrative above and quote below are from the Crystal Bridges blog. I created the Studiolo and Room collage for illustrative purposes only - kd]

“One of the delights of experiencing this work is to be dazzled by the technique and then put the clues together to construct an identity for its unknown occupant. Room is a tour de force by a promising young art star.”

Don Bacigalupi, executive director of the Crystal Bridges museum

An earlier New York Times Article

Alison Elizabeth Taylor - Artist