PHILIP TAAFFE
2011-04-04Taaffe’s paintings are the slow product of wide-ranging meditations on the interrelation of forms and images in art, nature, architecture, and archaeology. Filtered through a critical and dynamic relation to the history of abstract painting, Taaffe’s oeuvre is remarkable for its visual exuberance and intricate craft.In a single work he might combine the gestural impulses of Action Painting with the mechanical processes of silk-screening, as well as relief printing, marbleizing, traditional gold-leaf illumination, and subtle collage processes that are entirely of his own invention. Through these elaborate methods he composes dazzling schemes of great eloquence and beauty, often combining deeply personal visual reflections with quotations and vestiges drawn from a vast array of world cultures.
Opposite – Vasorum (Vessel Triptych), 2006
Exhibition runs through to May 14th, 2011
Gagosian Gallery
6-24 Britannia Street
London
WC1X 9JD
