Randy Akers — Biography & CV

Biography

ARTIST BIO

Randy Akers is a visual artist and painter working on Skidaway Island, Georgia. He has shown at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, University of New Mexico's Harwood Foundation, Brownsville Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Anchorage Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Valdosta University, Masur Museum of Art, SUNY Genesseo, Florida A&M University, Marietta / Cobb Museum of Art, LaGrange Art Museum, Ormond Art Museum, and Maryland Federation of Art among others. Art residencies include: OU Artist Residency, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada; 2027; Truro Center for the Arts, Cape Cod, MA, 2026; Vashon Artist Residency, Puget Sound, Washington, 2025 and 2023; NG Art Creative Residency, Provence, France, 2024; JOYA: arte + ecologica, Spain, 2022; Cill Rialaig, Ireland, 2021; Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, Wyoming 2019 and 2015; Foundation OBRAS, Evoramonte, Portugal, 2017. Akers' solo show, Road to Canaan, was included in the VIVA Florida 500. Work was selected by the Office of the Governor for The Art of Georgia, sponsored by the Georgia Council of the Arts. Work is now in the collection of the Commercial Bank and Trust in Memphis.

In his previous career, Akers directed and designed international television commercials, movie titles, music videos, and print for Fortune 500 companies. He has been affiliated with Duck Soup (LA), Curious Pictures (NY), R/GA Digital Studios (NY), Broadcast Arts (NY), Yarra Films (Singapore), Kessler-Irish Films (Toronto), and AFI Films (Miami). Akers is a member of the Director's Guild of America, the Broadcast Design Association, and served as an advisor to the Delphi Conference exploring the convergence of art and technology. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts (NY), the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and Cazenovia College. He received his M.F.A. at SCAD; B.F.A, Chouinard Art Institute. Additional academic work at Art Center College of Design, California State University Northridge, University of Oregon. Akers served on the board of Art Rise Savannah, Arts Georgia advisory council and is a founding member of Aspect Ratio (Art critique group).

Akers is represented by Kennedy Contemporary Gallery; Newport Beach, CA; Michael Mitchell, Charleston, SC; COHAB Space, High Point, NC; Studio E Gallery, Palm Beach, FL.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I travel to remote parts of the world investigating humble, ordinary dwellings and sites—places that are dirty, rusty, weathered, and in various states of disrepair. These locations are then reinterpreted, becoming honored and extraordinary.

Usually halfway through the process, the paint takes over. Color develops its own direction, and new variations suddenly appear. Chisels, electric sanders, grinders, drywall knives, and razor blades are brought out to redefine the image. Marks disturb the surface. Re-dos remain visible, occurring over and over again. Construction lines reveal scars from false beginnings.

Flatness organizes chaos. Structures stretch or shrink. Windows and doorways are added or subtracted, darkened or lightened. Shapes are reduced. Skies become bigger, smaller, grayer, brighter. Primitive scratch marks become the foundation for the next stage of the process.

The paint refuses to stay within the lines. Colors bleed, scar, overlap, spread, and stain. Marks become strong and expressionistic, gouging into the surface. Pigment settles into crevices and searches for places to hide. The surface clamors for evidence of the human hand.

Art may be created in solitude, but I believe it is most fully experienced in community.

Randy Akers

Skidaway Island, Georgia
2026

Curriculum Vitae

2027 Aspect Ratio (Group Show), Montag Gallery, JEA, Savannah, GA

2026 Neighborhood (Group Show), COHAB space, High Point, NC. Curated by Michael Manes and Angelina Rodgers

2026 DWELL (Invitational Group Show), Juniper Rag Magazine, Worcester, MA

2025 Holiday Show (Group Show) Reinike Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2025 Housework (Solo show), Kennedy Contemporary Gallery, Newport Beach, CA

2025 Carolina Muse Literary and Arts Magazine, Vol. V, Issue III.

2025 SEWE: Southeast Wildlife Exhibition (Group Show), Charleston, SC

2025 Vashon Artist Residency, Vashon Island, WA

2024 Small Joys (Group show), Kennedy Contemporary, Newport Beach, CA

2024 Night, Juror's Third Place Pick (National Competition), Juniper Rag Magazine, Worcester, MA.

2024 The Park Club Show (Group Show), Costa Mesa, CA. Curated by Kennedy Contemporary Gallery, Newport Beach, CA.

2024 NG Art Creative Residency, Provence, France

2023 Veil (Invitational Group Show) Juniper Rag Magazine, Worcester, MA.

2023 Things That Have Never Been (Invitational Group Show) Sulfur Studios, Savannah, GA

2023 Vashon Artist Residency, Vashon Island, WA.

2023 Bloom (Solo Show) J/Costello Gallery, Hilton Head, SC.

2022 That's a Wrap (Group show) SCAD Gutstein Gallery, Savannah, GA

2022 Lost and Found (Solo show) L/Ross Gallery, Memphis, TN.

2022 Darkness (Invitational Group show) Juniper Rag Magazine, Worcester, MA.

2022 Summer Selections (Group Show), Reinike Gallery, Atlanta, GA.

2022 JOYA: arte + ecologia (Arts Residency), Velez Blanco, Spain.

2022 Blue-The Expanse (Invitational Group Show), Location Gallery, Savannah, GA.
2022 Rebellion (International Group Exhibition), Biafarin Artist Management, Toronto, Canada.

2021 Winter Group Show L/Ross Gallery, Memphis, TN.
2021 Red III (Invitational Group Show), Jane's Art Center, New Smyrna Beach, Fl.
2021 Equinox, Juniper Rag magazine V.2. Curated by Marjorie Rawle, Assistant Curator, Fitchburg Art Museum, MA
2021 Cill Rialaig Project (Arts Residency), Ballinskelligs, Ireland.
2021 Site and Structure (Solo show) Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, GA
2021 Outside looking In (Solo show) J/Costello Gallery, Hilton Head, SC
2021 Tiny House Project (Invitational Group Show) Location Gallery, Savannah, GA
2021 Smallworks (Invitational Group Show), Corkhouse Gallery, Savannah, GA
2021 Oh, the places we would go (Invitational Group Show), Maryland Federation of the Arts, Annapolis, MD
2021 Scars, Gravity and Paint (One Person show), Greenville Center for the Arts, Greenville, SC
2020 Dreamy Places (Solo show), Jane's Art Center, New Smyrna Beach, FL.
2020 Art Has a Voice (Invitational Group Show), Greenville Center for the Arts, Greenville, SC
2020 Summer Nights for Hospice (Invitational Group Show), Location Gallery, Savannah, GA
2020 The Art of Protest (National Juried Show) Maryland Federation of the Arts, Annapolis, MD.
2020 How We Process (Group Show) The Loft, Marietta, GA.
2020 Moveable Feasts (Group Show) Location Gallery, Savannah, GA.
2020 Red (International Group Show), Jane's Art Center, New Smyrna Beach, FL.
2020 Lush Green (Invitational Group Show), Location Gallery, Savannah, GA. Curated by Peter Roberts.
2019 Holiday Show (Group Show) L / Ross Gallery, Memphis, TN.
2019 Telfair Art Fete (Invitational Regional Show) Telfair Art Museum, Savannah, GA. Curated by Peter Roberts and Sue Ruby.
2019 Vespa Home Show (Group Show) Memphis, TN
2019 Jane's Art Center (Inaugural Group Show) New Smyrna Beach, FL.
2019 Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts (Arts Residency), Saratoga, WY.
2019 Beneath the Surface, (Solo show) Augusta Municipal Gallery, Sponsored by the Augusta Arts Council, Augusta, GA.
2019 10 x 10 Art for Education (Invitational Regional Show), Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, GA.
2019 47th International (International Juried Show), Brownsville Museum of Art, Brownsville, TX. Curated by Alejandro Macias.
2019 Lush Pink, (Invitational Regional Show), Location Gallery, Savannah, GA. Curated by Peter Roberts.
2019 Scars on the Land, (One-Person show) Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton, VA. Curated by Jaynelle Hazard.
2019 Visual Harmony, (National Juried Show) Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis, MD. Juried by First Lady Yumi Hogan, Professor, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
2018 Empathy, (National Juried Show) University of North Carolina, Pembrooke, NC. Juried by Ling-Wen Tsai, Professor, Maine College of Art.
2018 American Landscapes, (National Juried Show), Maryland Federation of the Arts, Annapolis, MD. Juried by Joann Moser, Curator Smithsonian Americian Art Museum.
2018 Words + Pictures, Craddock-Terry Gallery, Riverviews Artspace, Lynchburg, VA.
2018 Shifting Color II (Group Show), Ellington-White Gallery, Fayetteville, NC.
2018 La Grange Southeast Regional, (Juried Group Show), La Grange Art Museum, La Grange, GA. Juried by David Houston, Chief Curator, Crystal Bridges Art Museum.
2017 Small Works 2017 (Juried Group Show), Gutstein Gallery, Savannah, GA.
2017 A View from the Easel, Hyperallergic Magazine
2017 New Work and Processes (Artist talk and Exhibit), Telfair Art Guild (TAG), Savannah, GA
2017 Foundation OBRAS (Arts Residency), Evoramonte, Portugal.
2017 Agua Vista (Invitational Regional Show) Location Gallery, Savannah, GA.
2017 Places of the Mind (Solo Show), Sacred Heart Cultural Arts Center, Augusta, GA
2017 Common Ground (One-person show), Ellington-White Gallery, Fayetteville, NC.
2017 Luck of the Draw (National Juried show), Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO. Sponsored by the Missouri Arts Council.
2017 Off the Wall (Fundraiser) Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA.
2017 Of the Earth (Two-person show with Marianne Weil, Sculptor), Ormond Memorial Art Museum, Ormond Beach, FL.
2016 Small Works 2016 (Juried Group Show), GutsteinGallery, Savannah, GA.
2016 Autumn's Palette (Group Show) Royal Contemporary Gallery, Florence, CO.
2016 Pinnacle 2016 (National Juried Show) Foster-Tanner Gallery, Florida A&M University, Talahassee, FL.
2016 Black Creek Arts Annual Exhibition (National Juried Show), Hartsville, SC. Curated by Mary Catherine Robinson, University of South Carolina.
2016 La Grange SE Regional (National Juried Show), La Grange Art Museum, La Grange, GA. Curated by Donna Sirlin.
2016 Contemporary South 2016 (Regional Juried Show), Visual Arts Exchange, Raleigh, NC. Juried by Kristin Fleischman Brewer, Pulitzer Arts Foundation.
2016 Landmarks (Solo Show), Charleston Convention Center, Charleston, SC.
2016 Randy Akers / New Work, Hospice Savannah. Curated by Beth Logan.
2016 Finding Our Place; Geography of Art (National Juried Show), Annemarie Arts Center in association with the Smithsonian Institute, Solomons, MD. Juried by Mary Savig, Smithsonian Curator of American Art.
2015 On my own Time (Juried National Show) Peoples Choice Award, Arts Brookfield, Republic Plaza Gallery, Denver, CO.
2015 New Watercolor (Juried National Show) Shenandoah Valley Arts Center, Waynesboro, VA.
2015 Contemporary Encaustic (Juried National Show), Royal Contemporary Gallery, Florence, CO.
2015 Metro Montage XV (Juried National Show), Marietta / Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta, GA. Juried by Robmat Butler, Knoxville Museum of Art.
2015 ThinkART (Invitational Group Show), Savannah, GA.
2015 Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts (Arts Residency), Saratoga, WY.
2015 Earthy Abstractions (Juried National Show) First Place. North Carolina Arts Council, Fayetteville, NC.
2014 A Sense of Place (Juried National Show), Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Augusta, GA.
2014 Immediate Surroundings (Juried Group Show), Gutstein Gallery, Savannah, GA.
2014 Masur Museum 51st Annual (Juried National Show), Masure Museum of Art, Monroe, LA. Juried by Kelly Shinder, Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis.
2014 La Grange National XXVII Biennial (Juried National Show) La Grange Art Museum, La Grange, GA.
2014 The Art of Georgia (Juried Invitational Show), Office of the Governor, Georgia State Capital, Atlanta, GA. Sponsored by the Georgia Council of the Arts.
2014 Festa dell' Arte ( Juried National Show) St. Simons, GA.
2013 Bayou View (Juried National Show), University of Louisiana, Monroe, Louisiana. Juried by Dr. Edwin Pinkston, ULM.
2013 Southworks (Juried National Show), Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, Watkinsville, GA. Juried by Harry De Lorme, Telfair Art Museum.
2013 Road to Canaan (Solo Show) Jaxport Gallery, Jacksonville, FL. Sponsored by VIVA Florida 500.
2013 Message (Two-person Show with Christopher Williams)) Savannah Cultural Arts Center. Sponsored in part by the Georgia Council of the Arts and the National Endowment of the Arts.

View artwork by Randy Akers