MAGGIE PHILO

The Studio (behind St James Furnishing) College Road Brighton BN2 1EU

http://www.maggiephilo.co.uk/  [email protected]

Surfaces have always fascinated me — for what they tell us about history, time and the human desire to decorate and deface. I have two strands to my work — some paintings start from direct observation which I reinterpret, and others that begin with rapid instinctive mark-making. Both are linked by their gestural marks and visceral quality.

My recent paintings have no subject and no planned outcome. Marks are made quickly and instinctively, then edited. Some I obliterate and then I respond to those that remain, making decisions based purely on the lines, colour, shapes and texture. These decisions are inevitably drawn from the world around me and influenced by my experiences in life.

The tempera paintings are based on photographs taken as I walk. They reflect deconstructed journeys in Morocco and Sicily. The panels are made from gesso on board. I then work on them using graphite, charcoal, pastel and egg tempera made with pigments. Each layer is burnished into the gesso. In this way the making of the surface comes to reflect how the original surface developed over time.

Painting No 1   1000mm x 1300mm  Oil on Canvas

Painting No 2   1000mm x 1300mm  Oil on Canvas

Red, Black and White No 1   565mm x 425mm  Oil on canvas

Red, Black and White No 2   565mm x 425mm  Oil on canvas

Listening 1   465mm x 680mm  Oil on paper

Red Barn Blue Barn   680mm x 800mm   Egg tempera, pigment, charcoal and graphite on gesso