Faculty and Staff

Ashley Taylor, M.F.A.

• Lecturer
• Ashley.Taylor@ucf.edu
• Office Hours: Monday/Wednesday 3-4pm
• Campus Location: VAB205
• View CV
• View personal website

Biography

Ashley Taylor is an artist and designer from Port St. Lucie, FL. She received her MFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in printmaking from the University of Florida and her BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Central Florida. She has exhibited nationally and has curated shows on printmaking and new technology. 

Research

It’s a power play. The conversation replays over and over. Superficial moments connect to create the painful theatre of social life. Navigating these bitter swamps, one discovers the mad have been set free. 

In the company of the unrelenting, social experience has become a commodity for satire. There is a pleasure to be found in their self-absorbed, narcissistic, inconsiderate behavior. Mutating into the grotesque, there is an attraction to their foolish actions but also a shocking disgust with their selfishness and cruelty. These characters are ugly in their behavior and must be recorded as such. Direct experience and observation of present social culture and norms drive the work. Pushing beyond grotesque representation, my work is a commentary on the psychological effects of trying to assimilate into their twisted social graces.

My appetite is for social commentary, through the graphic nature of mark and the print arts, I feel very connected to the legacy and long historical tradition of satire. This research is informed by the writings by Guy Debord, Lauren Rabinowitz, Aaron James and inspired by Desidirus Erasmus’ A Praise of Folly as well as the prints of artists Warrington Colescott, William Hogarth, and James Gillray.

Education

• M.F.A. in Printmaking from University of Florida (2015)
• B.F.A. in Graphic Design from University of Central Florida (2011)

Courses

• Spring 2021
• Fall 2020
• Summer 2020