Al Taylor in his East Nineteenth Street studio, New York, September 1993. Photography by David Britton. Estate of Al Taylor archives.
| 1948 | Born in Springfield, Missouri. Grows up in Wichita, Kansas. |
| 1966–70 | Studies at the Kansas City Art Institute; graduates with degrees in painting and printmaking. |
| 1970 | Moves to New York City. Takes day jobs as a truck driver and an art handler. |
| Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, creates abstract, geometric paintings. | |
| 1975–82 | Works as Robert Rauschenberg’s studio assistant. Develops close friendships with many artists, including Brice Marden, James Rosenquist, and Cy Twombly. |
| 1980 | Five-week trip to Africa (Uganda, Kenya, and Senegal) profoundly alters his thoughts about art, affecting his approach to materials and use of humor in his work. |
| 1984 | Designs sets for dance performances, which leads him to construct three-dimensional work. Creates his last paintings. |
| 1986 | First solo exhibition, at Alfred Kren Gallery, New York, includes sculptures and drawings. |
| 1987 | First trip to Hawaii, which will become an important source of inspiration. |
| 1988 | First published series of etchings initiates regular printmaking until 1997. |
| 1990 | Experiments with using photocopy toner to make drawings. |
| 1991 | Munich art dealer Fred Jahn buys sixty-eight drawings. His support allows Taylor to quit his day jobs and concentrate on his art. |
| Throughout the 1990s, exhibits regularly in galleries, in New York as well as in Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland. | |
| 1992 | First solo museum exhibition, at the Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland. |
| 1998 | One-month trip to Hawaii, to celebrate his fiftieth birthday, inspires new series of drawings and sculptures. |
| 1999 | Dies of lung cancer on 31 March. An exhibition of his work takes place in the summer at the Kunstmuseum in Lucerne, Switzerland. |