Pet Stains

Al Taylor’s Pet Stains series originating from observations made during a stay in a corner flat at a 4-way street crossing on top of a hill in Montmartre, Paris. Spending much of his time on the balcony observing life on the streets below, Taylor became fascinated by the large number of dogs marking their territory in the neighbourhood. He noticed that due to the uneven streets sloping down the hill, the direction the urine would take was very unpredictable. Intrigued by the liquids’ alternation, Taylor started to create drawings by slightly moving puddles of ink on pieces of paper, making the ink run in seemingly random and uncontrolled ways. In the prints from the Pet Stains series, he invented possible names for the dogs responsible for the puddles and created subtle connections by only naming them in pairs: e.g. Tom and Jerry, Ike and Tina. In a strange way, the prints are reminiscent of old maps, maybe of forgotten battlefields.