Troy Abbott
American
Troy Abbott is a multidisciplinary artist working in digital media. His work has been exhibited in the United States and Europe and is in many private collections around the world. Troy is currently focused on the interaction and relationships between humans and digital technology. He uses digital manufacturing processes in his work to explore and to document the signatures of modern technology in the act of creating.
Troy AbbottWorks & Biography
Troy Abbott, 2 City Chicks in Red, 24w, 15.5d, 19h In.
Troy Abbott, American, b. 1967 is a multidisciplinary artist currently working in digital media. He graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Fine Art focusing on drawing, but he gravitated towards the field of digital art. In 2002, Abbott made his first birdcage, inspired by the idea from the classic film Blade Runner in which humans and robots co-exist and are almost interchangeable. His ideas developed and in 2006 he began to make more and more cages. Abbott gave up his job running a nightclub in Fort Lauderdale and dove completely into his exploration of the real and the digital with his cages. He explores the idea of freedom in his pieces, that the birds sit in cage with the doors open, yet they never leave.Abbott's work is wonderfully subtle yet intriguing. The birds are sometimes color coordinated to the cages, but they always feel as though they are the natural inhabitants of the cages, perhaps they have been there for years. Abbott films real birds, often reusing his subjects, who sit on their perches with the occasional jerk of movement. This draws the attention of the viewer to the cages, which are art unto themselves. Abbott scours thrift stores and vintage shops to find cages he feels have personality. As his work has progressed Abbott has also taken to showing the exposed circuitry that gives the birds life, bringing the digital element up to the vintage and stylistic element of the cages. The result are beautiful pieces that sit quaint and quiet at first glance, but ring of a subtle commentary on the nature of reality.
EDUCATION 1990 Bachelor's of Fine Arts – Drawing, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2006 Equilibrium, Art Futures Gallery, Miami FL, SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS & FAIRS 2023 TBA 2022 The Baggage We Bring, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami FL Art Miami, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami FL 2021 Summer Days, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami FL 2020 - - - C O V I D - 1 9 - - - 2019 Animalia, Averitt Center for The Arts, Statesboro GA Bird Watcher, Visions West Contemporary, Denver CO Re-Evolution, Univ. Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie WY 2018 Fair 2018, Spinello Projects, Miami FL What's Hot MIami, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery Miami FL The Neo-Victorians, Hudson River Museum, New York NY 2017 Fragile Ecologies Part Two, Art Miami, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery Art Aspen, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Aspen CO Fragile Ecologies Part One, Art New York, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery Zoo-Per-Duper, Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, West Palm Beach FL 2016 Give Them the Bird, Art Miami, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami FL Walk like the lions, and perform like the pigeons., Art New York Fair, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, New York NY Bird in the Hand, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto CA Curator’s Choice, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson WY Beauty and the Beast: The Animal in Photography Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego CA Lit, Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square, Delray Beach FL Art Miami, Miami FL 2015 The Peaceable Kingdom, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Art Miami FL Art in the Natural World and Cultured Settings, Art Wynwood, FL 2014 Art Miami, Miami, FL Art South Hampton Fair, New York, NY, Pan American Art Projects 2013 Scope Basel Switzerland Reclaimed Miami, Zadok Gallery, Miami FL Scope Art Fair, New York NY Wynwood Art Fair, February Miami FL International Art Fair, Miami FL Palm Beach International Art Fair, Palm Beach FL 2012 Scope Basel Switzerland Warhol is Over, Robert Fontaine Gallery, Miami FL Scope New York, New York FL Art Naples, Naples FL Scope Miami, Miami FL Miami International Art Fair, Robert Fontaine Gallery, Miami FL Palm Beach International Art Fair, West Palm Beach FL 2011 Scope Art Fair Miami FL Sex Drugs and Profanity, Robert Fontaine Gallery, Miami FL Home Dream Home, Praxis Gallery, Miami FL Art Pad SF, San Francisco CA Spinello Gallery, Miami FL Abracadabara, Hollywood Center for Arts and Culture Palm Beach International Art Fair, Palm Beach FL Miami International Art Fair, Miami Beach FL Stencil and Candy, Art Modern Gallery, Wynwood, Miami FL 2010 Verge Art Fair, Miami Beach FL E.G. Cody, Miami FL Nature Revisions and Dreams, Florida Gulf Coast University, Naples FL Things I Found / Things I Found and Made, Salon Contemporary, UK 2009 Littlest Sister, Spinello Gallery Tent Digital, Truman Brewery London, UK Island Contemporary Exhibition, Captiva Civic Center, FL Pop Masters, Art Modern Gallery, Naples FL Art Object, Art Modern Gallery, Naples FL 2008 Seasonal Opening, Art Modern Gallery Pool Art Fair Miami Beach, Miami FL Opera Gallery, Paris FR Sacred Art, Art Futures Gallery Miami FL Where the Wild Things (still) Are, Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers FL Everyday, H W Gallery, Naples FL Art Modern Gallery, Naples FL 2007 Splendid Illusions, Art Futures Gallery,u Miami FL Environmental Awakenings, Art Futures Gallery ,Miami FL V07 Video Art Fair Venice, IT Diva Fair, New York NY Communion Saves Art, Miami FL BOOKS 1+1>2, Artist book (unique), University of Miami, Miami FL COMMISSIONS PUBLIC OR PRIVATE Resorts World Genting Royal Caribbean Cruises LTD.
Artist statement
The birds sit in cages with the doors open, yet they never leave. My work merges the real and the digital to create commentary on reality's nature.
