Born 1970, in Tehran, Iran, lives and works in Providence, RI
Received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI and his BFA from Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Chris Taylor is a traditionally trained glassmaker who has spent his career questioning and challenging this age-old material tradition. Nothing is guaranteed in Taylor’s studio practice—not even the studio. In Small Craft Advisory (2009), he took glassblowing on the road, or more specifically, the water. Seated inches away from a lava hot furnace, Taylor blew glass in a seven-foot dinghy floating in the Atlantic Ocean, only to let the work dissolve in the water. Besides being a danger-filled performance, Small Craft Advisory questioned the conventional categorization of glassblowing as ‘craft,’ as well as blown glass as an ‘authentic’ and precious art object. In his unorthodox glass practice, Taylor uses strategies more in line with conceptual art, where process trumps product.
In his sculptural works, Taylor trades in a type of illusionism that similarly diverges from glasswork tradition to investigate perception, reality, and ‘truth.’ In SCHOTT Return (2003–10), Taylor fabricated replica glass lab beakers with slight imperfections, which he then shipped to the SCHOTT manufacturer as a flawed object for return. After receiving a new ‘perfect’ beaker from the factory—Taylor exhibits the works side-by-side, perfectly imperfect with perfectly perfect, and ultimately suggests a rethinking of the real.
