Design is meant to grab you and win you over. It is meant to function in a way so as to make life easier. Obviously painting has to do with something…

- 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 decorative, patterns of cult…

- 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. I've a…

- 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

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 takes on more th…

- 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 and just trying to …

- 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 information that I gather togeth…

- Philip Taaffe

I'm not so interested in this series of ruptures, where minimalism took over pop art, and then neo-expressionism was a triumph over that. I'm not int…

- 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 make the most ou…

- Philip Taaffe