Randy Taylor is an artist, educator and organizer who has been working in Atlanta since the 1970s. He has worked in theatrical presentation, creating installations, toy puppet productions and small exhibits with CREATE and the Museum of Design in Atlanta, to name a few. But he might be best known for the iconic work he has produced for Gay Spirit Visions, an organization that creates safe spaces for gay men, and gay-themed RFD magazine.
“Journey of a Queer Skinny Kid” is his first specifically autobiographical work. In the show, Taylor places drawings, personal artifacts and objects from the 1950s and 1960s into shadowboxes that detail his experience as a gay kid growing up in the South. The show opens Dec. 3 with a reception from 7 to 10 p.m. at Sycamore Place Gallery, 120 Sycamore Place, in Decatur. The exhibition will run until Dec. 23.
Taylor answered questions about his work for INtown:
Your new show is both about art and storytelling. What inspired you to create your shadowboxes?
I wanted to write my stories and was never able to organize them as words. Being a visual artist, I thought I could do the same with the medium that I am familiar. Thus the shadowboxes were born.
How is a shadowbox different from a painting or a drawing?
With the shadowbox I can use a variety of found and historical life items such as toys, ephemera, constructed items that represent my life. There is always something I have created, drawn, painted, sculpted, sewn in each box. This gives me the opportunity to work with a wide variety of mediums.
What themes do you explore in your new show?
The main theme I am looking at is the unfolding of my queerness. Where and how did it manifest itself with my life.
Tell us a little about your creative process.
I have a list of about 200 ideas. I will choose one to work on and will do layouts as to how to best demonstrate the idea. I research images to assist me if I have to. Then I gather material, draw, cut, glue and construct the box.
Talk a little about the gallery and what people might expect when they come to your show.
Sycamore Place Gallery was formally a garage. Today it has 13 working artists studios, a courtyard, and a gallery space. The opening will have over 20 shadowboxes, food and representative music. After the opening the gallery is open upon request through Dec. 23.
Franklin Abbott is an Atlanta psychotherapist and consultant, writer and poet. For more visit www.franklinabbott.com?.
