Taylor creates images using marquetry[4] which she has expanded to include painting and photographs.[5]
She subverts inlay's decorative status by constructing narratives that are neither decorative, nor memorial, nor facile, but rather freezing the abject, mundane and ordinary in time. Marquetry was first popularized under Louis XIV in the 17th century in the unprecedented luxury of Versailles. By portraying these subjects in a technique associated with opulence and privilege, the artist pays respect to the subject and challenges the expectations and connotations associated with the material.[citation needed]
Taylor won the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition for her work Anthony Cuts under the Williamsburg Bridge, Morning, which is subsequently on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. As a result of her win, Taylor will be commissioned to portray a remarkable living American for the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.[6]
From February 18 – July 30, 2023, the Addison Gallery of American Art exhibited Alison Elizabeth Taylor: The Sum of It, an exhibit of approximately 40 large-scale single panel that traced “the evolution of the artist’s work.”[7]
