Philip Taaffe

(American, born 1955)

Philip Taaffe is a contemporary American artist best known for his process-based abstractions. Melding iconography, design, art-historical motifs, and personal experience, he creates densely patterned works. “Taaffe’s paintings are built in complex layers, both technical and historical. The more one knows about his process, the more stupefying are the final results,” the poet Vincent Katz said of his work. “Each painting is an amalgam of different techniques and media—oil paint transferred from cardboard forms, acrylic stains, oil-based prints from linoleum blocks, scraping, scouring, photo-based silkscreen prints, collaged paper elements, and most recently, spooned acrylic swirls, and intricately cut and applied sheets of gold leaf.” Taaffe's practice revolves around the appropriation of works both by well-known artists, including Barnett Newman and Bridget Riley, and designs by anonymous artisans. Born in 1955 in Elizabeth, NJ, he studied at the Cooper Union, receiving his BFA in 1977. The artist’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions worldwide, including at Luhring Augustine in Brooklyn, the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris, and numerous others. Taaffe currently lives and works between New York, NY and West Cornwall, CT. His works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Reina Sofia in Madrid.

Philip Taaffe Artworks

Philip Taaffe (451 results)
Patterns, 1993

Philip Taaffe

Patterns, 1993

Sale Date: June 10, 2008

Auction Closed

Untitled

Philip Taaffe

Untitled

Sale Date: May 7, 2008

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1985

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1985

Sale Date: May 5, 2008

Auction Closed

Strangulation with necktie, 1985

Philip Taaffe

Strangulation with necktie, 1985

Sale Date: May 5, 2008

Auction Closed

Untitled, 2002

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 2002

Sale Date: April 26, 2008

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1999

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1999

Sale Date: March 15, 2008

Auction Closed

Frieze, 1991

Philip Taaffe

Frieze, 1991

Sale Date: February 7, 2008

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1988

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1988

Sale Date: January 15, 2008

Auction Closed

Sans titre (Flower), 1993

Philip Taaffe

Sans titre (Flower), 1993

Sale Date: December 5, 2007

Auction Closed

Long, Deep-Sea Toothy Fish (Chauliodus..., 1997

Philip Taaffe

Long, Deep-Sea Toothy Fish (Chauliodus..., 1997

Sale Date: December 7, 2007

Auction Closed

Untitled

Philip Taaffe

Untitled

Sale Date: November 28, 2007

Auction Closed

Seven incidents, Giollo di Napoli,..., 1991–1992

Philip Taaffe

Seven incidents, Giollo di Napoli,..., 1991–1992

Sale Date: November 14, 2007

Auction Closed

The red desert, 1996–1997

Philip Taaffe

The red desert, 1996–1997

Sale Date: November 14, 2007

Auction Closed

Sans titre, 1986

Philip Taaffe

Sans titre, 1986

Sale Date: October 21, 2007

Auction Closed

La sciara, 2000–2001

Philip Taaffe

La sciara, 2000–2001

Sale Date: October 16, 2007

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1993

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1993

Sale Date: October 16, 2007

Auction Closed

Drawing from mosaic, 1988

Philip Taaffe

Drawing from mosaic, 1988

Sale Date: October 15, 2007

Auction Closed

Crabs, 1997

Philip Taaffe

Crabs, 1997

Sale Date: September 12, 2007

Auction Closed

Tsunami, 1999–2000

Philip Taaffe

Tsunami, 1999–2000

Sale Date: September 10, 2007

Auction Closed

Multiple small fish, 1997

Philip Taaffe

Multiple small fish, 1997

Sale Date: September 10, 2007

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1986

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1986

Sale Date: May 19, 2007

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1986

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1986

Sale Date: May 19, 2007

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1988

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1988

Sale Date: July 10, 2007

Auction Closed

Sans titre, 1987

Philip Taaffe

Sans titre, 1987

Sale Date: June 28, 2007

Auction Closed