Al Taylor (1948-99) began his studio practice as a painter and although he is more widely known for the three-dimensional works he started making in 1985, throughout his career, regardless of the medium, Taylor's oeuvre was fundamentally grounded in the formal concerns of painting. Published on the occasion of an exhibition at David Zwirner in spring 2017, this is the first book to focus exclusively on the artist's works on canvas. Featuring a selection of 26 rarely seen paintings created between 1971 and 1980 that embody the subtleties of reduction and restraint, they nonetheless have hints of the idiosyncratic playfulness that would come to characterize Taylor's later works. New scholarship by poet and art critic John Yau examines the visual relationships that connect Taylor's paintings, drawings and sculptural objects, and a conversation conducted by Mimi Thompson between painters Stanley Whitney and Billy Sullivan--all of whom knew Taylor well--provides insight into his reputation as an "artist's artist."