No title 1988

Al Taylor made this untitled work on paper in 1988 using watercolor and graphite. He’s really playing with the push and pull between representation and abstraction. Check out how he’s layered those rectangular forms, some solid and colorful, others just ghostly outlines. It gives you a sense of movement, like objects caught mid-tumble. The colors are straightforward – reds, blues, greens – but it's the way he lets them bleed and blend that makes it sing. Look at the long vertical bar on the left; it's not just one color, but a medley of reds and browns. For me, the cutout at the bottom right adds another layer, like a little wink from the artist, reminding us that art is always a construction, a rearrangement of reality. Taylor reminds me a bit of Richard Tuttle, in his playful approach to materials and his willingness to let a work be provisional, open-ended. It's a good reminder that art isn't about answers, it's about asking questions.