(born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1955)
Rugosa Corridor, 2008, signed, dated, titled P. Taaffe 2008 on the reverse, mixed media on paper on canvas, 104 x 137.8 cm, framed

Provenance:
Jablonka Galerie, Berlin (gallery label on the stretcher)
Private Collection, North Rhine-Westphalia

“I think the important distinction is that art has to do with expression, with summoning an inner state. Mine is a deeply personal approach. I want to draw connections between those things I love. I have a fairly unwieldy set of concerns that go into determining what I do in the paintings, such as the history of the decorative, patterns of cultural migration, Islamic art and design, Byzantine architecture, the annals of natural history, as well as contemporary painting. [...]“ Philip Taaffe on his work, In: Interview Magazine, Philip Taaffe, 22 May 2009 (https://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/philip-taaffe)
Philip Taaffe is one of the most extraordinary American contemporary artists. His artworks are witness to his many journeys across the world. They show references to cultural ornaments as well as to the lush vegetation around the world. They are bright, colourful, and often large format paintings which show a dense compression of motifs of the world’s most vibrant places expressed through the hands of the artist. He shapes these motifs into a surprising new constellation and colourful interpretation of his own.
The artwork being auctioned here is no exception. As its title Rugosa Corridor suggests, it takes reference from the rugosa rose. Following its rampant and robust characteristics, the thorned stems of the rugosa rose make their way through the painting – seemingly devouring the underlying colour-splashed canvas.