Philip Taaffe at Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
Feb 9th 2008
on view March 8-October 12, 2008
The American artist Philip Taaffe is one of the foremost painters of his generation. The exhibition "The Life of Forms" at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is the most extensive survey of Taaffe's work ever to be shown in a museum. Organized in close collaboration with the artist, it presents over 80 paintings from the period 1980 – 2008. A room of monotypes on paper relating to individual forms depicted in the paintings has been created especially for the exhibition in Wolfsburg, as has a group of large-scale paintings that bring the show to a spectacular conclusion.
Philip Taaffe was born in 1955 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and studied at the Cooper Union in New York. His first solo exhibitions were held in New York in 1982 and Hamburg in 1984 and his early work gained widespread recognition in the context of the appropriation art movement. Building on the success of that period, Taaffe continued to develop his distinctive body of work in the privacy of his large studio in New York, which at times resembles a factory and at others is reminiscent of an elegant library. His work is represented in major museum collections around the world.
As a painter, Philip Taaffe is undoubtedly also a collector. Initially his work was based upon the distinct and clearly defined formal traditions of 20th-century abstract painting. The repeated appropriation of aesthetic positions developed by artists before him – besides Barnett Newman, his sources included Marcel Duchamp, Bridget Riley and Ellsworth Kelly – gave Taaffe the basis on which to establish his own concept of painting. While many of his colleagues at that time lived their lives in the spotlight of the art scene, Taaffe preferred to go his own way and remain independent of prevailing trends. He immersed himself in the 'endless history' of ornament and the fascinating 'life of forms', a subject addressed by French art theorist Henri Focillon in 1934 in his similarly titled treatise.
In his work Philip Taaffe adopts a language of images which, while abstract, draws upon a repertoire of forms and styles that also includes figurative elements. Rather than changing the shape or form of the borrowed imagery, however, Taaffe proves that figurative elements can be incorporated into abstract compositions. He invents pictorial worlds within the context of abstraction using a vocabulary of motifs acquired up until the early 1990s above all on his foreign travels. These included lengthy journeys to the Middle East, India, South America and Morocco, and he also lived in Naples from 1988 to 1991. Taaffe's global approach is aimed at establishing ornament as a 'universal language' that brings together elements from different parts of the world and diverse cultures. These are then varied and modified by the artist before being applied to the canvas in surprising new configurations and radiant colours.
In this way, Taaffe also crossed the Mediterranean to Tunisia and subsequently conveyed his experience of North African cultures through the fragments of Islamic architectural forms he arranged across the surface of his paintings. He creates abstract patterns of figures which thus become a visual account of his experiences with (foreign) cultures. Rendering the original elements precisely and in their actual size, Taaffe subverts pure decoration by placing the ornament in a new context and thereby abstracting it. His signature method of stamping motifs onto his paintings using a variety of printing techniques has enabled him to develop a highly individual form of ornamentation and a unique frame of reference.
Following his lengthy stay in Naples, Philip Taaffe began to extend his work in many different directions. He not only started to incorporate the traditions of Mediterranean art since antiquity into his painting, he also continued to develop his distinctive pictorial compositions, which oscillate between abstraction and ornament, monochromaticity and an opulent play of forms. In the following years he encountered a wide variety of cultures throughout the world, creating a store of experience he continues to draw upon. Since the mid-1990s this store has expanded to include representations of nature, taken mainly from historical books he collects in an impressive library. His art is characterized by a profound desire for spirituality and transcendence.
At the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, the different 'chapters' of Taaffe's oeuvre will be presented in specially designed spaces using a flexible architectural system that allows us to develop the exhibition design from the paintings themselves. The layout takes the form of a meandering path for visitors to follow through the exhibition. The climax of the exhibition is a towering installation of individual prints taken directly from the blocks used by Taaffe in the production of his paintings. This fascinating glimpse into the artist's intellectual and material workshop is supplemented by objects of Islamic cultural history, found scientific objects and illustrations from books on natural history.
The display of source materials and objects not only illustrates how such impressive works are created, it also provides insight into contemporary and historical cultures around the world, which are repeatedly brought into surprising dialogues with one another as borrowed ornaments in Philip Taaffe's paintings.
Exhibition catalogue
With its lavish design and comprehensive coverage of the material, the 240-page catalogue is likely to become the standard work on Philip Taaffe's oeuvre. All of the exhibits – as far as these were completed at the time of going to press – are reproduced as full- or double-page illustrations. As compared to earlier publications on his work, the inclusion of studio images gives the reader additional insight into the artist's workshop and his production process. An essay by art historian and Taaffe expert Kay Heymer provides in-depth analysis of the evolution of Taaffe's oeuvre and the diverse art-historical and historico-cultural references it contains. Markus Brüderlin examines painterly abstraction as the continuation of the history of the ornament, while fellow curator Holger Broeker explores Taaffe's specific concept of time in relation to his working methods. Rounding off the publication is an extensive interview between the artist and New York art historian and critic Brooks Adams, which provides additional insight into Taaffe's complex and distinctly original body of work.
The exhibition "Philip Taaffe: The Life of Forms. Works 1980 – 2008" is generously supported by VOLKSWAGEN BANK GmbH.
Curators: Dr. Markus Brüderlin and Dr. Holger Broeker
Press conference: 6 March 2008, 11.15 a.m.
Exhibition opening: 7 March 2008, 7 p.m.
Contact/Press enquiries: Dr. Thomas Köhler, Nicole Schütze;
Tel.: +49 (0)5361-266969, Fax +49 (0)5361-266966
VISITOR INFORMATION
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
Hollerplatz 1
38440 Wolfsburg
GERMANY
T. +49.5361.266969
F. +49.5361.266966
http://www.kunstmuseum-wolfsburg.de/exhibition/14/Philip_Taaffe