“Lunapark” by Philip Taaffe
By: Alexandria M. Clark
Designer: Philip Taaffe
Work: “Lunapark”, 2001
Philip Taaffe was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1955, and studied at the Cooper Union in New York. The process that Taaffe is know for is the melding of historical art motifs, iconography, and his own personal experiences. Thus, traveling to places such as the Middle East, India, South America, and Morocco, likely has had a significant impact on his work. Taaffe is known as a contemporary artist, creating process-based abstractions which develop into dense pattern work. When looking at Taaffe’s art altogether, there appears to be a theme of life, represented through a wide variety of organic shapes that overlap each other in a repetitive matter, much like in nature. Much of the imagery in these patterns mimics shapes of plants, skulls, or even animals such as snakes or birds. The abundance of color used in one piece creates the sense that no one color in a piece is more important than the other, with the exception of a few pieces with high contrast elements. In his work “Lunapark”, there is about 4 colors which play an equal role in the piece. Although, the yellow could be interpreted as having hierarchy due to its relationship with the complementary blue. The background of the piece has a somewhat psychedelic feeling, where the bold lines create shapes that form allusions to other organic shapes and surfaces. The background also can be interpreted as very geometric despite the organic shapes which are obvious at first glance. That is because he developed his background through reflecting these organic patterns multiple times, thus creating a suggested outline of rectangles aligned side by side. Layering of smaller colorless shapes add that element of nature, as well as contrast with a background of color, thus developing something that could be interpreted as an overwhelming or confusing overall picture.
“Lunapark”, 2001:
Other work by Philip Taaffe:
“Portal with ornamental fragments”, 1994
“Melting Head”, 2004
“Flowers”, 1995