Taaffe’s vivid, abstract paintings employ symbols drawn from a vast array of cultural and historical sources, from Islamic architecture and Eastern European textile design, to calligraphy. The repetition of ornaments and the colors convey the illusion of multiple optics. Taaffe activates the visual field while playing subtly with symmetry and asymmetry leaving the viewer to discover the different symbols incorporated in the artwork. This combination of culture and the use of colors associated with distinctive religious symbolism leaves the spectator free to interpret.

The artist’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions worldwide, including the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, and are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.