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)
Untitled, 1988

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1988

Sale Date: November 17, 1992

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1987

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1987

Sale Date: November 17, 1992

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1988

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1988

Sale Date: November 17, 1992

Auction Closed

THREE UNTITLED DRAWINGS, 1986

Philip Taaffe

THREE UNTITLED DRAWINGS, 1986

Sale Date: May 9, 1992

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1988

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1988

Sale Date: May 9, 1992

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1987

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1987

Sale Date: May 6, 1992

Auction Closed

BRAIDED ARCS, 1988

Philip Taaffe

BRAIDED ARCS, 1988

Sale Date: May 6, 1992

Auction Closed

NATIVITY (RED, WHITE), 1986

Philip Taaffe

NATIVITY (RED, WHITE), 1986

Sale Date: May 5, 1992

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1986

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1986

Sale Date: February 27, 1992

Auction Closed

GREEN FORM, 1985–1986

Philip Taaffe

GREEN FORM, 1985–1986

Sale Date: February 27, 1992

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1987

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1987

Sale Date: February 27, 1992

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1988

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1988

Sale Date: February 27, 1992

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1987

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1987

Sale Date: November 12, 1991

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1986

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1986

Sale Date: October 3, 1991

Auction Closed

SPIRALS, 1987–1987

Philip Taaffe

SPIRALS, 1987–1987

Sale Date: February 13, 1991

Auction Closed

SPIRALS II, 1986–1986

Philip Taaffe

SPIRALS II, 1986–1986

Sale Date: May 8, 1990

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1986–1986

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1986–1986

Sale Date: November 9, 1989

Auction Closed

Forest lantern, 1981–1982

Philip Taaffe

Forest lantern, 1981–1982

Sale Date: October 31, 1989

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1986

Philip Taaffe

Untitled, 1986

Sale Date: November 10, 1988

Auction Closed