By Stephanie Carmon
This weekend I passed by artist Randy Shull’s newly inaugurated gallery tucked behind an unassuming historic facade on the Calle 56 in Centro. I went to see the new space and the grand exhibition of texture and colors intervened by weavings of the iconic Yucatecan hammocks. As Randy handed me a tequila and walked me around the surprisingly vast room, he shared with me a bit of his work and his career as an artist. His latest pieces, part of the “Siesta” collection, are a homage to Yucatan and captures the essence of the Yucatecan soul.
A native of the mid-west, with a permanent home in Asheville, North Carolina, Shull has owned a home and maintained a studio in Merida for 16 years. Lured here by the pace of life, the peace, and a place to call his home away from home, he draws his inspiration from the colorful markets and streets, the tropical heat and the vernacular lifestyle he is surrounded by. His newest studio endeavor featuring the quintessential hammock represents for him a deeper connection to Merida and his work here. This collection was born in his days of solitude during the pandemic where we were all forced to pause and reflect on our life and observe our environment. As an accomplished artist who works in architecture, landscape design, furniture design and painting, the pieces in this collection combine his investigation of furniture in art and his impressions of the life in Yucatan.
“Randy’s colorful and highly textured paintings reveal countless layers of paint and an interest in the archaeology of the process of painting. His furniture bridges the gap between art and design by combining painting and furniture in one composition. A number of these signature pieces are in important collections throughout the United States.” https://www.randyshull.com/bio-1
The hammock is the fluid and traditional furniture of the Yucatan. It’s a handy moveable that works as a bed, a chair, a sofa. You see people taking a nap or “siesta”, watching TV or sharing the hammock with friends and family as you pass by the houses in Centro, stroll the sand streets at the beach, or the dirt roads in the inland villages of Yucatan. It’s an essential part of nearly every Yucatecan home, no matter the socio-economic background. Randy’s use of the hammock is a clever twist on his already well-established work combining artistic furniture and paintings. The intense colors and textures are a tribute to this rich and vibrant state.
For now this gallery space is open by appointment only. You can contact him via his IG here: https://www.instagram.com/shull.randy/
“[Randy Shull’s] work is included in a number of national museum collections including The Brooklyn Museum, New York; The High Museum, Atlanta; The Renwick Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; The Mint Museum of Craft & Design, Charlotte, NC; Racine Museum of Art, Racine, WI; The Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh, NC; Museum of Art and Design, New York, Black Mountain College Museum; The Asheville Art Museum, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art; The Mobile museum of Art, and numerous corporate collections including Fidelity, Wells Fargo, Piedmont Natural Gas and others.” –https://www.randyshull.com/bio-1
