Philip Taaffe.
The Life of Forms. Works 1980 – 2008
March 8, 2008 – June 29, 2008
Hollerplatz 1
38440 Wolfsburg
Germany
phone: +49-5361-2669-0
fax: +49-5361-2669-66
info [at] kunstmuseum-wolfsburg.de
The exhibition surveys the entire oeuvre of American artist Philip Taaffe, who was born in 1955 in New Jersey. Having first gained international recognition in the early 1980s with the appropriation art movement, Taaffe has combined his own conception of abstract art with an exploration of ornamental imagery. In this sense Philip Taaffe is working towards a universal “global language of abstraction”, bringing together ornamental elements from different parts of the world and diverse cultures – Arabic, Celtic, pre-Columbian, Asian, Japanese etc. – into a “world ornament” on a square of canvas. In his aesthetic research by way of “visual poems” and “collective constructions” Taaffe delves deep into the history of forms and styles, employing a variety of artistic techniques to create paintings with elaborately layered surfaces. His works give insight into cultures around the world, which as borrowed ornaments in Taaffe’s paintings repeatedly enter into surprising dialogues. In a world dominated by globalization tendencies, Taaffe proves himself to be a mediator between the various cultures by emphasizing the respective singularity of each.
Opening hours:
Tuesday: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Wednesday to Sunday: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Monday: closed
