Philip Taaffe: Biography
BIOGRAPHY:
PHILIP TAAFFE was born in
Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1955, and studied at the Cooper Union in New York. His
first solo exhibition was in New York in 1982. He has traveled widely in the
Middle East, India, South America, and Morocco, where he collaborated with
Mohammed Mrabet on the book Chocolate
Creams and Dollars, translated by Paul Bowles (Inanout Press, New York:
1993). Taaffe lived and worked in Naples from 1988-91. He has been included in
numerous museum exhibitions, including the Carnegie International, two Sydney
Biennials, and three Whitney Biennials. In 1990 his work was the subject of an
extensive critical study in Parkett no. 26 (Zurich & New York).
Publications include studies by Wilfried Dickoff (Max Hetzler Gallery,
Cologne:
1992); Oleg Grabar (Gagosian Gallery, New York: 1994); and Brooks Adams (Vienna
Secession: 1996), and Robert Rosenblum (IVAM Valencia: 2000). His work is in numerous public collections,
including the
Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Whitney
Museum of American Art; and the Reina Sofia, Madrid. In the year 2000, the IVAM
museum in Valencia organized a retrospective survey of his work, with
contributions by Enrique Juncosa, Robert Rosenblum, and Robert Creeley. In 2001
an extensive survey of his work was presented by the Galleria Civica of Trento,
Italy. In 2004 the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in San Marino (Italy)
presented a survey of paintings and drawings based on the artist’s
explorations with floating pigments and the marblization process, accompanied
by the Skira publication, Carte Annuvolate (Cloud Papers) with an esssay by Peter Lamborn Wilson. Philip Taaffe presently
resides and works in New York City.
Philip Taaffe in the studio, 2000 © Chris Felver