Artist statement
“Let no thought pass incognito, and keep your notebook as strictly as the authorities keep their register of aliens.”
― Walter Benjamin
Drawing is central to me. Not only is it at the core of my practise as an artist, but, possibly more importantly, it allows me to be tethered to and in the world. Moreover, these two areas are in fact one and the same.
I draw obsessively; sometimes having an idea to get down on paper and at other times drawing for the pleasure (or displeasure) it brings.
Drawing is immediate, sometimes dealing with narrative and at other times devoid of story.
Drawing allows ideas to come into being; the channel from imagination to reality.
Sculpture comes directly from drawing; seldom do I make without drawing.
I use materials and images in a similar way; that is, I buy, acquire or find; self-sufficiency in the place where I live or the places I travel through and to.
The image of the house, which features heavily in some of my work, is a simple statement of fact; that is, it does not put forward an argument or agenda, but rather it presents information. However, it may also act or function tacitly, making implicit arguments or statements, using a variety of means to influence the viewer. It resonates with the building up and the dismantling of my inner and the external environment. I am drawn to the feel of the house shape, that is, the porosity of its external and inner surfaces and its susceptibility which allows me to imbue it with happenings, both physical to me and directly linked to my imagination. The house is often blank or even ‘speechless’ and may act as an emissary; an object that discloses information, communicating knowledge of itself or something beyond.
Qualifications and training
- 1985 Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, London
Solo exhibitions
- 2013 Works from the Fukushima Series, Departure, London
- 2013 Works from the Fukushima Series, Devonshires, London
- 2013 Das Wandern, 64 Wellington Street, Leeds
- 2012 5am there - The Muammar Gaddafi Variations, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield
- 2011 Place – an installation & new drawings by Phill Hopkins, HOMA, Leeds
- 2008 Seven Drunken Nights, Greenbelt Festival, Cheltenham
- 1996 Domestic Airspace, Brahm Gallery, Leeds
- 1994 Recent Drawings, Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds
- 1991 Flyers – Recent Sculptures & Drawings, Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds
Group exhibitions
- 2013 Pack of Patches Gallery Artists, Galerie Root, Berlin
- 2012 12-12-12, Bank Street Arts, Sheffield
- 2012 ADVENTurous, Union Chapel / Engedi, London / Colwyn Bay
- 2012 Inhospitable 1.1, 64 Wellington Street, Leeds
- 2012 Liverpool Biennial 'Inhospitable' - SCIBase, Bridewell Studios and Gallery, Liverpool
- 2012 Finished - Unfinshed, Galerie Pack of Patches, Jena, Germany
- 2012 Greenbelt Festival, Cheltenham Race Course, Cheltenham
- 2012 Artefacts of Failure, QUAD, Derby
- 2012 Engediarts - Easter Story Exhibition, Imperial Hotel, Colwyn Bay, Wales
- 2012 Supermarket, Stockholm Art Fair, Sweden
- 2011 Lange Nacht Der Museen - Curated by Martin F. Lechleitner, GALERIE BERTRAND KASS, Innsbruck, Austria
- 2011 Happiness Postcard Project, Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds
- 2011 Angels of the North, Greenbelt Festival 2011, Cheltenham
- 2011 Place for a Kitchen: an installation - On the Edge - FRINGE:Leeds, Templeworks, Leeds
- 2011 'Place' a new installation - part of the Wilderness Exhibition, Wesley Hall, Sheffield
- 2010 The Moment of Privacy has Passed - Sketchbooks by Contemporary Artists, Architects and Designers, Usher Gallery, Lincoln
- 2010 Minutiae, Bank Street Gallery, Sheffield
- 2010 International Digital Media Arts Association Conference, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, B.C, Canada
- 2010 Behold: Curated by Shaeron Caton-Rose, part of Feva Festival, St John The Baptist Church, Knaresborough
- 2010 Pilgrimage to Hailes, Hailes Church & Abbey, Gloucestershire
- 2008 12 Artists, The Cafe Gallery, Henshaws Arts & Crafts Centre, Knaresborough.
- 2007 Situation Leeds: Contemporary Artists & The Public Realm, Round Foundry, Leeds
- 2003 2003 Other Criteria, The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
- 1994 Sculptor’s Drawings, Cornerhouse, Manchester
Residencies
- 2012 Clever, BasementArtsProject, Leeds
Projects
- 2013 Border Crossings: Artist as Explorer, Online, UK and Columbia
Publications
- 2012 Soanyway 16 'Contents' in Corridor8 issue 3.3 Magazine
- 2011 BlankPages: Issue 37 - http://www.blankmediacollective.org/blankpages/issue_37
- 2003 Sculpture in 20th-Century Britain - essay by Bruce Bateman, Published by Henry Moore Institute (ISBN 1 900081 04 0)
- 1996 Domestic Airspace Exhibition booklet - Bruce Bateman - Brahm Gallery, Leeds
- 1996 Penelope Curtis & Terry Friedman, Editors, Leeds Sculpture Collections Illustrated Concise Catalogue, published by The Henry Moore centre for the Study of Sculpture
- 1991 Aeroplane Dreams - Henry Moore Institute (ISBN 0 901981 48 6)
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