Al Taylor: Pass the Peas and Can Studys

Having begun his studio practice as a painter and draftsman, in 1985 Al Taylor (1948–1999) devised a uniquely innovative approach to process and materials that seamlessly enveloped drawings and three-dimensional objects as he created compositions that were grounded in the formal concerns of painting. Taylor ultimately sought to expand the possibilities of vision in his search for new ways of experiencing and imagining space, and his multilayered investigations of perception across variant dimensions provide the viewer with an insight into the artist’s idiosyncratic thinking, his methodology, and his playful sense of humor. This publication focuses on two bodies of work by Taylor, Pass the Peas and Can Studys. Although distinctly individual, both of these series examine Taylor’s lifelong explorations of the circle. In his Pass the Peas series from 1991–1992, the artist studied the inside and outside of circular forms and investigated the multi-dimensional possibilities that could be r