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Pioneering British Pop Artist comes to Australia: Peter Phillips Retrospective

Exclusive first-look in partnership with the Noosa Food and Wine Festival, 18-19 May 2019

Peter Phillips is a prolific British pop artist with a career spanning over 60 years. Originally from Birmingham, UK, Peter Phillips attended the Royal College of Art, London alongside the likes of David Hockney and Brett Whiteley.

Now residing in Noosa, Queensland, Phillips made the move after living and working in the USA and Europe, to be closer to family who also relocated there, as well as to open the Phillips Gallery.

In recognition of his internationally recognised record of

exceptional and outstanding achievement in the arts, the Australian Government granted Peter a Distinguished Talent visa, allowing him to live permanently in

Australia.

Peter renovated a former industrial space in Noosa into a large-scale studio and gallery to house his private collection. The new permanent collection encompasses six decades of work, spanning large-scale paintings to mixed-media collages to lithographic prints and sculptures, and will be a must-see destination for art-lovers in

the Asia Pacific.

Phillips will inaugurate his newly-constructed studio gallery with two special events as part of the Noosa Food and Wine Festival 2019 in May, which also coincides with Phillips’ 80th birthday. The festival will present an exclusive first-look at the retrospective exhibition and a short documentary on his life with interviews by the

band ‘The Cars’, artists Allen Jones, Peter Blake, Derek Boschier and renowned art historian Marco Livingstone.

For the event POP! Pop Art, bubbles and Canapés on Saturday 18 May, guests will enjoy contemporary canapés by acclaimed creative Chef Josh Lopez – best known for his role at the lauded two-hatted GOMA – while sipping on artisanal cocktails prepared by Noosa’s newly launched ‘Fortune Distillery’ made with limited edition and special release spirits. Festival-goers will learn about the history of Pop Art, meet Phillips, hear stories of his celebrated career, watch the debut of an accompanying short

film outdoors and be the first to see the retrospective exhibition.

At PROGRESSIVE POP on Sunday 19 May, guests will devour a six- course degustation menu inspired by six decades of work, artfully prepared by Chef Josh Lopez. Each course will include a wine pairing and will be accompanied by rare artworks from Peter’s collection and limited edition take-away cards signed by the artist, creating a lively event for food and

art-lovers alike.

To also commemorate the milestone Peter Phillips has collaborated with fashionably acclaimed Swedish sock company Happy Socks, with designs taking cues from some of his most iconic and memorable imagery, including “Four Stars” (1963), “Impeller” (1972), and “Custom Painting No. 6” (1965). The collaboration will be presented in a 400 limited edition box set containing three pairs of socks – with Phillips’ artwork prominently featured.

Phillips was most authentic in choosing his subject matter and pop art methods directly from his own experiences. Pop Art in Britain was in part a symptom of the class rebellion that produced a burst of freshness, originality and energy during the 1960s, not only in art but also in other creative areas including fashion, pop culture and especially pop music. Like many of his artist friends, Phillips came from a working-class background and was part of the first major intake of such students into British art schools. Phillips explains: “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. My advice to anyone is do what you love and do it well. Art gave me opportunities – you could let your imagination run wild.”

The paintings he made at the Royal College between 1959 and 1962 came directly out of his laddish enthusiasms and pleasures: 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.

Peter Phillips’ Retrospective exhibition is a rare chance for Australia to see artworks spanning a 60-year career from a founding figure of the pop art movement in a stunning large-scale studio to be unveiled in May 2019. Phillips is recognised as one of the most important British artists of his generation and an international founding figure of the pop art movement who has exhibited in the likes of Tate Gallery, London, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Berardo Museum, Lisbon, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney and many more.

Image caption: Art-O-Matic Riding High, 1973-74. Acrylic on canvas, 200 x 150cm

“Peter Phillips is an industrious craftsman.” – TIME Magazine
“[One] of Europe’s most celebrated contemporary artists” – The New York Times

Peter Phillips Retrospective
Opens 18 May 2019
Address: 36 McIntyre Lane, Tinbeerwah, QLD 4563