Randall Szott
A selection of bios:
[I rediscovered this bio from 2009]
Randall Szott is not “based” anywhere. When not working on his bio or vitae, he alternates between life in Oak Park, Illinois and various locations along the coastline of the southeastern United States on the largest US owned hopper dredge. His life is a series of three-week cycles on land and three at sea. He believes himself to be the only cook in the merchant marine with an MA in Interdisciplinary Art and an MFA in Art Critical Practices. He has presented his work at The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the California College of the Arts, and The Skydive (Houston), The Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh) and The Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus). Szott frequently creates his own venues – Concept Trucking, placekraft, LeisureArts, and perhaps the only legitimate one – He Said, She Said. He has collaborated with InCUBATE, Public Collectors, Nancy Zastudil (Studiolo54), and The Public School. He is co-founding editor of 127 Prince, a journal of social practice.
[ This bio is new and improved as of 10.2.12] Randall Szott is a reasonably intelligent guy, but needs social housebreaking. He reads widely, if not especially deeply. His approach mimics something recently said of G.K. Chesterton, ” [who] knew just enough of his subjects to make plausible and sweeping assertions—but not so much that he hampered himself with qualifiers, contradictions, exceptions, or any other complications.” Although it could be said he is something of an expert on leisure, it could also be said he is a lazy expert – neither are really true. He is a writer that doesn’t write and an artist that doesn’t make art. He is, however, a cook that actually cooks. He spends half his life at sea and has accomplished nearly nothing professionally and likes it that way. He resides in Vermont – there is nowhere else in the United Stated he’d rather live.
[Excerpt from a really old bio] Randall Szott has been called an artist, but the evidence to support that claim is shaky at best. He has described himself as a chef, a merchant marine, or a schmuck with some blogs. He’s a dilettante really. For some reason people get the idea that he hates art. It’s true that given the choice between a flea market and an art museum, he’ll choose the former nearly every time; and that he prefers his meals at home rather than in a gallery, but he’s not immune to the charms of a relational aesthetics throw-down, or engagement with highbrow objects…
[This bio retired as of 9.12.12] Randall Szott embodies the spirit of an old Dennis Miller joke in that he doesn’t know enough about anything to impress strangers and just enough about everything to annoy his friends. Or is it the reverse? He spent 11 years in college at 7 schools in 5 states and has 3 degrees. He has been cooking professionally for around a decade and has prepared everything from Thanksgiving dinner for over 300 to multi-course wine tasting menus for 12. His life is a series of three week cycles on land and three at sea working as a cook aboard the largest US owned hopper dredge. Inexplicably, institutions occasionally invite him to present his thoughts and activities in a public setting, even ones that should know better like SFMOMA, basekamp, The University of Houston, The California College of the Arts, Summer Forum for Inquiry & Exchange, the College Art Association, and threewalls.
Current Activities
Past Activities
127 Prince (was a social practice journal, now a porn site! – you can still see it here)
Other Web Presence
