Philip Taaffe
Philip Taaffe
Born in 1955 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States
Currently lives and works in West Cornwall, Connecticut, United States
Education
1974 - 1977
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, United States
Selected public collections
Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY, United States
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL, United States
Broad Art Foundation, Santa Monica, CA, United States
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, United States
Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, OH, United States
Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Collection, LA, United States
Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Jewish Museum, New York, NY, United States
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, United States
Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA, United States
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX, United States
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, United States
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, United States
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, United States
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, United States
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York, NY, United States
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, United States
I hate the term 'artistic practice’ - you might as well be saying 'law practice’, Philip Taaffe tells me as we enter designed by its previous owner for manufacturing Formula One race cars. On this cold December day, it houses at least 40 of Taffe's paintings in various stages of completion, some ranged against the walls, the rest arrayed on the floor. Standing there in his tartan flannel shirt, Taffe pauses to catch my gaze, his own shining beneath a flip of white hair. "Don't you feel?".
The question disarms me. He suddenly seems to be asking who I am. For behind Taffe's boyish eagerness to be understood is an erudite, almost patrician manner - you can easily imagine him playing a cameo role in The Philadelphia Story. But the trace of defensiveness in what he says next tells me this means everything to him. "For me," he explains, "painting is a lived reality. I'm not practicing anything. I'm living my life." By the end of the day, I will understand he isn't exaggerating. This is a man whose life is painting, leaving little room for things the rest of us can't live without. "I am really tormented by technology," he says after taking me through the complicated means by which he makes his works. The dizzying array of materials and tools and techniques that he employs is incredibly impressive. Still, it's all analogue, like the rest of his life: "I don't use a computer. Don't have a cell phone. It's become a dilemma. I think it's a rabbit hole I'm reluctant to go down. I do call people. And they never answer the phone."
Taffe may be living his life to the exclusion of technology but not to the world. Since the mid-1980s - as the art world became mesmerized by consumerism, when not looking at itself - and across a career that has seen generations of artists vying for relevancy amid the currents of change, Taaffe has been undeterred by our distractions. This is part of what has made him a sort of poet among living painters. A poet tends to things of this world, and, as his paintings reveal, Taffe tends to a lot of things. Indeed, he is a master of the miscellaneous: mollusks, arachnids, algae, columbines, dragonflies, skulls, ironwork, shields, heralds, Coptic symbols, shamanistic tools, pictographs, calligraphy, pinwheels, barbed wire, human organs, Inuit carvings, Uzbeki tiles, medieval molding, Swiss insignia, Japanese hannya masks — a far from comprehensive list of things you might encounter in a Philip Taaffe.
Yet, his embracing of such heterogenous abundance belies an artistic openness to life's frictions. Taffe's paintings seem to feel everything in every way, to hold all opinions. They love things as a god might. Or a democratic leader. Represented in his work is a plurality disparate things that, more often than not, are drawn from far beyond the sometimes myopic lens of Western art history. His paintings acknowledge that art, like nature, architecture, and craft, belongs to all people, and that the artist cannot extract from things their essence if he possesses them. Small wonder that Taffe's canvases present a contingent, diverse world that cannot be totalized. They tell us that the world is to be grasped in parts. […]
This is why, in addition to being a poetical painter, Philip Taaffe is a philosophical one. He is interested in what we might think and feel and say about life if we could see its patterns. Of course, Taffe is all too aware of the world's entropic nature. Look behind his images: you see it in the color of his smashed printings. his evaporative half and quarter tones, the clashing he unleashes of all that is lapidary-sharp and cutting and defined-with the great globular amorphousness of life. The wildness wants out. But his paintings address the human dilemma of flourishing amid the chaos without and within. They say: we seek order and balance, naturally, even if what's being balanced is wild and unruly. […]
Andrew Winer, "Philippe Taaffe", BLAU, No. 8, Spring 2023
Philip Taaffe, Paris
October 17 - November 30, 2024
Selected solo exhibitions
2024
Philip Taaffe, The Lively Oracles, Carling Dalenson Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
2023
Philip Taaffe, Recent Work, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO, United States
2022
Philip Taaffe, Luhring Augustine Tribeca, New York, NY, United States
2021
Philip Taaffe: Paintings from Five Decades, Tobias Mueller Modern Art, Zurich, Switzerland
2019
Philip Taaffe, Luhring Augustine, New York, NY, United States
2018
Philip Taaffe, Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
2017
Philip Taaffe: Asterias, Cheymore Gallery, Tuxedo Park, NY, United States
2016
Philip Taaffe, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO, United States
2015
L’envoi, Jablonka Maruani Mercier Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Philip Taaffe, Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, United States
Philip Taaffe, Luhring Augustine Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY, United States
Philip Taaffe: Project Room, Sculpture + Drawing, Carolina Nitsch Project Room, New York, NY, United States
Philip Taaffe: Works on Paper and Illustrated Books, 1982–2012, Glenn Horowitz East Hampton Gallery, East Hampton, NY, United States
2014
Philip Taaffe: Rangavalli, Studio d’Arte Raffaelli, Trento, Italy
2013
Philip Taaffe, Recent Work, Luhring Augustine, New York, NY, United States
2012
Philip Taaffe: Recent Paintings and Drawings, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO, United States
2011
Anima Mundi, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Drawings and Paintings, Jablonka Galerie / Jablonka Pasquer Projects, Cologne, Germany
New Paintings, Jablonka Galerie, Böhm Chapel, Hürth, Germany
Philip Taaffe, Gagosian Gallery, London, England
2010
Disvelamenti / Unveilings, MAGI’900—Museo delle Eccellenze Artistiche e Storiche, Bologna, Italy
Ekstasis, Gagosian Gallery, Athens, Greece
Works on Paper, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY, United States
2009
Philip Taaffe: New Works, Jablonka Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Recent Work, Studio d’Arte Raffaelli, Trento, Italy
2008
Philip Taaffe: Das Leben der Formen: Werke 1980–2008 / The Life of Forms: Works 1980–2008, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany
2007
Philip Taaffe, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY, United States
Philip Taaffe: Works from the Portalakis Collection, Portalakis Collection, Athens, Greece
2004
Carte annuvolate, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea della Repubblica di San Marino, San Marino
Recent Paintings and Drawings, Jablonka Galerie, Cologne, Germany
2003
Recent Paintings and Drawings, Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG, Zurich, Switzerland
2002
Philip Taaffe, Jablonka Galerie, Cologne, Germany
Philip Taaffe, Studio d’Arte Raffaelli, Trento, Italy
2001
Confluence: Selected Works from 1990 to Present, University Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, CA, United States
Philip Taaffe, Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea Trento, Trento, Italy
Philip Taaffe: Ouvres récentes, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2000
Philip Taaffe, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia, Spain
New Paintings, Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA, United States
Selected group exhibitions
2024
Arranged: Recent Acquisitions of Modern and Contemporary Painting, Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Patterns, Luhring Augustine & Luhring Augustine Tribeca, New York, NY, United States
2023
50 Paintings, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, United States
After "The Wild": Contemporary Art from the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation Collection, Jewish Museum, New York, NY, United States
Forms, Jeffrey Deitch and Gagosian, Miami Design District, Miami Beach, FL, United States
I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel…, Fleiss-Vallois, New York, NY, United States
Mystics of the World Unite, Villa Ipranosyan, Sevil Dolmaci, Istanbul, Turkey
2022
Mosaic, Washburn Gallery, New York, NY, United States
2020
My Generation: The Jablonka Collection, Albertina, Vienna, Austria
The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and the Cosmic Tree, Camden Arts Centre, London, England
The Pleasure Pavilion: A Series of Installations, Luhring Augustine Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY, United States
2019
Inaugural Exhibition, Rubell Museum, Miami, FL, United States
Brand X: 40 Years, Pace Prints, New York, NY, United States
Drawing Dialogue: William S. Burroughs and Philip Taaffe, Galerie Semoise, Paris, France
The Eighties, David Nolan, New York, NY, United States
Less is a Bore: Maximalist Art & Design, Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, Boston, MA, United States
2018
Abstraction Today: Mapping the Invisible World, Tobias Mueller Modern Art, Zurich, Switzerland
Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, United States
The Coffins of Paa Joe and the Pursuit of Happiness, The School, Kinderhook, NY, United States
The Conditions of Being Art: American Fine Arts, Co. & Pat Hearn Gallery (1983-2004), Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, United States
Foundation for Contemporary Arts Benefit Exhibition, Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY, United States
The Joy of Matisse, Pushkin State Museum, Moscow, Russia
Nomadic Murals: Contemporary Tapestries and Carpets, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL, United States
Pop Minimalism, Deitch Projects and Gagosian Gallery at the Moore Building, Miami, FL, United States
Selected bibliography: books and exhibition catalogue
2024
50 Paintings, exh. cat., 139. Milwaukee: Milwaukee Art Museum, 2024.
2022
Amor Mundi: The Collection of Marguerite Steed Hoffman, 779. London: Ridinghouse, 2022.
Mosaic, exh. pamphlet. New York: Washburn Gallery, 2022.
2020
The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and The Cosmic Tree, exh. cat., 96-97. London: Camden Art Centre, 2020.
Karmel, Pepe. Abstract Art: A Global History, 167, 169, 267, 279. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2020.
Lucie-Smith, Edward. Movements in Art Since 1945, 199. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2020.
2019
Geometry and Art in the Modern Middle East, 150-155. Milan: Skira, 2019.
Less Is a Bore: Maximalist Art and Design, exh. cat., 70-71, 94-95. Boston: Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, 2019.
2018
Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s, exh. cat. New York: Rizzoli, 2018.
The Conditions of Being Art: Pat Hearn Gallery & American Fine Arts, Co., exh. cat. Brooklyn: Dancing Foxes Press, 2018.
2017
Abstract Painting Now!, exh. cat. Cologne: Walther Konig, 2017.
2016
A Weed is a Plant Out of Place, exh. cat. Lismore, Ireland: Lismore Castle Arts, 2016.
2015
The Broad Collection, 434-37. Munich: DelMonico Books, 2015.
Fig, Joe. Inside the Artist’s Studio, 222-31. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2015.
The Mannequin of History: Art after the Fabrications of Critique and Culture, 180-84. Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini Editore, 2015.
Painting is Not Doomed to Repeat Itself. New York: Hollis Taggart Galleries, 2015.
Teoría del Duende, exh. cat. Granada, Spain: Centro Federico García Lorca, 2015.
2014
Bethenod, Martin. Art Lovers: Histoires d’art dans la collection Pinault / Stories of Art in the Pinault Collection. Paris: Lienart, 2014.
Brant, Amy L. Interplay: Neoconceptual Art of the 1980s, 64-74. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014.
Poirier, Matthieu. Post-Op: Du perceptuel au pictural: 1958–2014, 6, 29. Paris: Galerie Perrotin, 2014.
Rubell Family Collection: Highlights & Artists’ Writings – Volume 1. Miami, FL: Rubell Family Collection, 2014.
Urban Theater: New York Art in the 1980s, 150–51, 190–91. New York: Skira Rizzoli; Forth Worth: Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth, 2014.
2013
Between the Lines: A Coloring Book of Drawings by Contemporary Artists, vol. 4, 36–37. New York: RxArt, 2013.
2012
Grachos, Louis, Douglas Dreishpoon, and Heather Pesanti. Decade: Contemporary Collecting 2002–2012, 178, 219, 302, 344. Buffalo: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 2012.
Salle, David. Your History Is Not Our History. New York: Haunch of Venison; Manchester, UK: Cornerhouse, 2012.
2010
Grabar, Oleg. Ornement / Ornemental. Paris: Colin, 2010.
Nickas, Bob. Painting Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting. London: Phaidon, 2010.
2009
Beg Borrow and Steal, exh. cat. Miami: Rubell Family Collection, 2009.
The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis, 273. New York: Abrams, 2009.
2008
Grabar, Oleg. The Tensions of Visual Creativity. Cologne: Jablonka Galerie; Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi International Fine Arts and Antiques Fair, 2008.
1999
Seidner, David. Artists’ Studios, 124–35. Paris: Assouline, 1999.
1996
Cooke, Lynne. 10th Biennale of Sydney. Sydney: Biennale of Sydney, 1996.
Nuevas abstracciones. Madrid: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 1996.
1994
Crone, Rainer. The Decorative as a Figure of Abstraction, 56–57. Munich: Cantz, Sammlung Goetz, 1994.
Jay, Ricky. The Magic Magic Book. New York: Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1994.
1993
Mrabet, Mohammed. Chocolate Cream and Dollars. New York: Inanout Press, 1993.
“Philip Taaffe.” In 3-D MoVA: The 3-D Museum of Visual Art, 70–71. Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, 1993.Philip Taaffe 14 1992
Cooke, Lynne. Doubletake: Collective Memory and Current Art. London: South Bank Centre; New York: Parkett/Scalo, 1992.
Kaufmann, Ruth. Stubborn Painting: Now and Then. New York: Max Protetch Gallery, 1992.
Robert Gober, On Kawara, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Albert Oehlen, Julian Schnabel, Cindy Sherman, Thomas Struth, Philip Taaffe, Christopher Wool. Cologne: Galerie Max Hetzler, 1992.
1991
Armstrong, Richard. 1991 Biennial Exhibition. New York: W. W. Norton, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1991.
Hoffman, Katherine. Exploration: The Visual Arts since 1945, 307. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
Murkens, Romie. Art Now Posterbook, Vol. 1. Berlin: Taschen, 1991.
Papadakis, Andreas, Clare Farrow, and Nicola Hodges, eds. New Art: An International Survey, 55. New York: Rizzoli, 1991.
Rosenblum, Robert. Warhol as Art History, 22–27. New York: Rizzoli, 1991.
Strange Abstraction, 14–18, 76–79. Tokyo: Touku Museum of Contemporary Art, 1991.
Wheeler, Daniel. Art since Mid Century: 1945 to the Present. New York: Vendome Press, 1991.
Who Framed Modern Art or the Quantitative Life of Roger Rabbit. New York: Sidney Janis Gallery, 1991.
1990
Diacono, Mario. Ross Bleckner, Philip Taaffe, Richmond Burton. New York: Perry Rubenstein Gallery, 1990.
The Last Decade: American Artists of the 80’s. New York: Tony Shafrazi Gallery, 1990.
Moszynska, Anna. Abstract Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 1990.
1989
Collins, Tricia, and Richard Milazzo. Hyperframes: A Post-appropriation Discourse, trans. Giovanna Minelli. Paris: Editions Antoine Candau, 1989.
1988
Collins, Tricia, and Richard Milazzo. Art at the End of the Social, trans. Stefan Sandelin. Malmö: Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art, 1988.
Fairbrother, Trevor, David Joselit, and Elisabeth Sussman. American Art of the Late 80’s: The Binational, 198, 243. Bonn: VG-Bildkunst, 1988.
Hybrid Neutral: Modes of Abstraction and the Social. New York: Independent Curators International, 1988.
1987
Armstrong, Richard, Richard Marshall, and Lisa Phillips. Biennial 1987, 11–15. New York: W. W. Norton, 1987.
Cameron, Dan. NY Art Now: The Saatchi Collection, 13–56. London: Collier Searle Matfield, 1987.
Frank, Peter, and Michael McKenzie. New, Used and Improved: Art for the 80’s, 92. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987.
Nairne, Sandy. State of the Art: Ideas and Images in the 1980s, 223. London: Chatto and Windus, 1987.
Pincus-Witten, Robert. Postminimalism into Maximalism: American Art 1966–1986. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1987.
1986
Cameron, Dan. Art and Its Double. Barcelona/Madrid: Fundacio Caixa de Pensiones, 1986.
Saltz, Jerry. Beyond Boundaries: New York’s New Art, 69–71. New York: Alfred Van der Marck Editions, 1986.
Weiermair, Peter. Prospekt ’86. Frankfurt: Frankfurt Kunstverein, 1986.Philip Taaffe 15
1985
Smith, Roberta. Vernacular Abstraction. Tokyo: Wacoal Art Centre, 1985.
Solomon, Thomas. A Brave New World: A New Generation. Copenhagen: Charlottenborg Exhibition Hall, 1985.