Seduced by the Noosa Hinterland, prolific British Pop artist Peter Phillips has opened a Noosa art gallery to show his private collection.
Phillips, who went to art school in London with the likes of art luminaries David Hockney and Brett Whiteley, has included large-scale paintings to mixed-media collages, lithographic prints and sculptures in the exhibition.
The new Phillips Gallery opened in May 2019 to coincide with Phillips’ 80th birthday.
Noosa Art Gallery
After years of travelling, Phillips has found his home in the Noosa Hinterland. Just two hours north of Brisbane on the Queensland Sunshine Coast, he has established his gallery on a large acreage property.
A former industrial barn has been converted into a light and bright studio where he can create surrounded by his favourite works. On the walls are 60 years of art including lithographic prints, sculptures and mixed media works. It is an inspiring space that evokes deep images in the viewer.
Sock it to ’em
Also commemorating the milestone birthday, Phillips collaborated with fashionably acclaimed Swedish sock company Happy Socks. The sock designs take a lead from some of his most iconic and memorable imagery, including “Four Stars” (1963), “Impeller” (1972), and “Custom Painting No. 6” (1965).
The socks are available in 400 limited edition box set containing three pairs prominently featuring Phillips’ art. (I so want these socks!)
About Peter Phillips
Phillips chose his subject matter and pop art methods directly from his own experiences.
Pop Art in Britain was in part a symptom of the British class rebellion during the 1960s that produced a burst of freshness, originality and energy. It was only in art but also in fashion, pop culture and especially pop music.
Like many of his artist friends, Phillips came from a working-class background. He was part of the first major intake of such students into British art schools.
“I don’t think Pop Art in England would have come about had it not been for the fact that the art schools suddenly started accepting more people from a working-class background,” says Phillips.
“My advice to anyone is do what you love and do it well. Art gave me opportunities – you could let your imagination run wild.”
Visits to funfairs, the consumption of imagery from mass-circulation magazines and pin-up calendars, photography, television and movies, a love of cars and motorbikes and inevitably a young man’s sexual impulses all provided inspiration for paintings he made at the Royal College between 1959 and 1962.
Phillips’ Retrospective exhibition
A rare chance for Australia to see artworks spanning a 60-year career from a founding figure of the pop art movement, the Peter Phillips Retrospective exhibition is presented in a stunning large-scale studio.
An international founding figure of the pop art movement who has exhibited in the likes of Tate Gallery, London, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, The Berardo Museum, Lisbon and many more, Phillips is recognised as one of the most important British artists of his generation.
The Australian Government granted Peter a rare Distinguished Talent visa, allowing him to live permanently in Australia in recognition of his internationally recognised record of exceptional and outstanding achievement in the arts.
Disclaimer: Ed+bK travelled to Noosa courtesy of Tourism Noosa.