Al Taylor

Active in New York in the 1980s and 1990s as a sculptor and draftsman, Al Taylor found inspiration for his lyrical and witty compositions in banal objects and everyday situations. Taylor devised a unique and innovative approach to process and materials that encompassed two-dimensional works on paper and three-dimensional objects. Moving fluidly between media, he sought to expand the possibilities of vision by exploring new ways of experiencing and imagining space. His sculptures, which he thought of as "tools for vision," were usually fashioned out of unconventional materials, often employing humble and sometimes humorous elements.

Taylor was born in Springfield, Missouri, and received a B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1970. He moved to New York later that year, where he would continue to live and work until his death, in 1999. His first solo exhibition took place in 1986 at the Alfred Kren Gallery in New York and his work would go on to be shown in numerous exhibitions in America and Europe, including solo exhibitions at the Kunsthalle Bern (1992) and the Kunstmuseum Luzern (1999).

Today, work by the artist resides in a number of prominent public collections including the British Museum, London; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich; Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others.