Artist Quotes by Philip Taaffe

What excites me and what I find most compelling is clearly not what excites other artists. It comes from my own idiosyncratic background and…

— Philip Taaffe

I'm not so interested in the effort that it takes to have a self-promotional outlook. I believe in being quiet and making my work…

— Philip Taaffe

Art exists through the act of making. It has to somehow be made manifest to another person. It has to do with what one…

— Philip Taaffe

I think that is the role of the artist in society - the cultural role of the artist is to perform a healing function.

— Philip Taaffe

There is a tendency in my work toward minimalism, in terms of stripping away the unnecessary. I am seeking a tightly ordered gestalt, usually.…

— Philip Taaffe

It's hard to fathom the psychology of the economics of art. I don't quite understand it, and I don't necessarily want to understand it.

— Philip Taaffe

I have a fairly unwieldy set of concerns that go into determining what I do in the paintings, such as the history of the…

— Philip Taaffe

An artist makes something to be physically experienced by another person. It's a raw, freely chosen, interpersonal relationship between the maker and the viewer,…

— Philip Taaffe

Ideas in art may be quite evident, and sometimes they're hidden. Sometimes they're simple, and sometimes they're quite complex. Great works of art can…

— Philip Taaffe

I have been very influenced by the Japanese concept of space - the preciousness of space, and how one's environment can be shaped to…

— Philip Taaffe

I will do a lot of research and create a lot of material for use in one painting. And then I go on discovering…

— Philip Taaffe

I don't want to fetishize the past. I want there to be a natural sequence coming out of a synthesis of the ideas and…

— Philip Taaffe

I'm trying to make a primitive painting. I'm trying to summon the archaic. I want to enter into a primitive situation. This is my…

— Philip Taaffe

Design is meant to grab you and win you over. It is meant to function in a way so as to make life easier.…

— Philip Taaffe

I'm very tolerant of other art and other artists. But what I truly appreciate, what I truly admire in contemporary art, is work that…

— Philip Taaffe