Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Cleveland.
Taylor, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m from Dallas. Up until 2014, I was creating art, performing music, and freelancing locally.
I left in 2014 to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (in the Film, Video, New Media, & Animation department), and graduated in 2016. I moved to NYC to work for Ogilvy & Mather’s Dialogue Strategy team primarily servicing the American Express account. I was back in Dallas by 2018 when I started working with Flight School Studio – again servicing American Express except this time doing event activations at the US Open & Wimbledon. During this time, I also started px.lab with Eric Trich – doing art-driven installations for Aurora Festival and Sweet Tooth Hotel. I was also helping Alex Craig grow TriplePlay Studios, a viral marketing agency, and taking freelance work where I could find it.
Since then, I’ve continued to make immersive and impactful art, and am currently a resident artist at The Cedars Union.
Eric Trich and I continue to run px.lab – and are selective about the projects we take – the most recent being Aurora’s Area 3 Installation and Toni&Guy’s Humane Collection directed by Austin Finley.
The TriplePlay Studios team is coming off a very successful viral marketing campaign for Paramount Studios’ new movie, Smile – we have counted over 70M organic views in 2 weeks.
And I have recently joined a creative team at Disney, as a designer.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has definitely NOT been a smooth road…. at all. lol.
Every step of the way has been challenging – but good things don’t come easy.
I think a lot of my struggles have also been unique – like when the internet misunderstood an art project of mine and thought I died – then thought I faked my death to promote an album – then cyber-bullied me into thinking I wasn’t an artist…, that was a stressful part of road.
Another challenge that’s been very recurrent is substance abuse in my family.
Financial struggles have also been a theme in my story – like, in college I had 3 on-campus jobs in addition to 15-18 credit hour semesters just to still have a healthy student loan balance at the end of it. 🙃
I think that struggle is part of the process and making good stuff happen.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an artist, designer, and creative director specializing in creative visual experiences- online, offline, and everything in between. I involve myself with projects concerned with reconfiguring material and personal senses – physically, culturally, and individually. I like pushing buttons, provoking, and moving audiences through experiences and spectacles.
I move in and out of Art, Music, Technology, Entertainment, and Marketing.
Some things I’m proud of include:
– “The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Taylor Effin Cleveland” (coming soon)
– Gilbert Gottfried calling me a worthless piece of shit (as seen on my Instagram)
– Meeting Snoop Dogg at Valve Studios (here in Dallas)
– Helping Paramount get their new Smile movie to the top of the box office this year
– Helping get Department of Wonder opened with the Flight School team
– And being able to maintain healthy relationships with great people
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Just keep going. It never ends so don’t give up…
Contact Info:
- Website: taylorcleveland.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taaaylor4really/
Image Credits
notyas.psd
