Al taylor artist biography
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Al Taylor, “Untitled” (1971), alkyd and oil on canvas, 60 x 84 inches (all images © 2017 The Estate of Al Taylor, courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London)
Al Taylor, an artist who died of lung cancer in 1999 at the age of 51, was much better known in Europe during his lifetime than in the US, where he was born in Springfield, Missouri, in 1948. His relative obscurity on this side of the Atlantic seems, in hindsight, to be just one of those things: a confluence of circumstances that led to more opportunities in Switzerland and Germany than were available here.
But Taylor was far from an unknown quantity in the New York art scene, where he mingled with a powerhouse gang of up-and-coming painters (Stanley Whitney, Brice and Helen Marden, Harriet Korman, and Billy Sullivan, among others) in the early 1970s and worked as a longtime studio assistant to none other than Robert Rauschenberg.
That Taylor continued to identify himself as a painter until the end of his life is one contradi
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Vita
1948
Al Taylor is born on March 2 in Springfield, Missouri
1966—1970
Studies art history, painting, drawing and graphic printing techniques at the Kansas City Art Institute
After that move to New York City
1975
Becomes studio assistent of Robert Rauschenberg and works for him until 1982
1984—1985
Colaborates with the choreographer and dancer Meg Eginton and designs various stage sets for her
1988
National Endowment for the Arts Individual Fellowship Grant in the field of sculpture
1991
Meets Fred Jahn in his New York studio on Franklin Street, who will företräda and exhibit him in the future
First trip to Munich
1994
Starts the work on the series ‘Lily’s Trap’
1998
Intensive work phase in New York; the series ‘Rat Guards’, ‘Wave Theories’, ‘Floaters’, ‘Counting with Outriggers’ and ‘Bondage Ducks’ are created
1999
Al Taylor dies in New York on March 31
Selected Solo Shows
2020
Al Taylor. A / LOW / HA: The Hawaiian Works
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Al Taylor, What Are You Looking At?
Untitled (Latin Study), 1985
Wood, lacquer, and enamel paint mounted on particleboard
Collection of Debbie Taylor
No title, 1985
Acrylic paint on newsprint
The Estate of Al Taylor, Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London
Pet Stain Removal Device, 1989
Bamboo garden stakes, Plexiglas, enamel paint, wire, and electrical tape
The Estate of Al Taylor, Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London
The Peabody Group #29, 1992
Graphite pencil, watercolor, gouache, india ink, colored inks, colored pencil, and ballpoint pen on wove paper
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York. Gift of the Modern and Contemporary Collectors Committee
Black Piece (for Étienne-Jules Marey), 1990
Plexiglas, enamel paint, China Marker grease pencil, wood, and wire
The Estate of Al Taylor, Courtesy David Zwirner, New York/London
Pissing Across Crosby St., 1991
Line etching and s