Exhibition curator Si
Smith chats with artist Phill Hopkins about soft landings,unexpected positivity, and the word 'lamentation'.
Si: Hi Phill, can you tell us a bit about
yourself?
Phill: Hello. I grew up on a large postwar council estate in south Bristol. In the early 1980’s I studied fine art/sculpture at Goldsmiths college in London, where I was taught by Michael Craig Martin, Richard Wentworth and Carl Plackman. After that I moved to Leeds where I’ve lived ever since. I work in a studio at home. I find it very easy to work at home, it’s a very smooth transition directly into the work that comes from a quieter and more centered space.
Si: That studio of yours is a glorious place, I get the feeling that a sense of place to create in is quite important to you and your work.
Phill: My studio space is very important. It is
the place where I am able to strip everything down. I have grown very attached
to my cabin space. Although the subject matter that I work with is very much
urban, I do appreciate the quietness of working alongside my garden, the bird
song, the sounds of different weather, the plants and wildlife that come in and
out.
Perhaps I need a calm place so that the frenetic contents of my head can find a soft place to land.
At the moment I can hear a jackdaw squawking over a Britten piece I’m listening to. I like to work alongside music. As my work has really got hold of a repeated image, I have become more contemplative and the music I choose to accompany me allows this or fosters this.
Perhaps I need a calm place so that the frenetic contents of my head can find a soft place to land.
At the moment I can hear a jackdaw squawking over a Britten piece I’m listening to. I like to work alongside music. As my work has really got hold of a repeated image, I have become more contemplative and the music I choose to accompany me allows this or fosters this.
Si: The Stations of the Cross exhibition at
St Edmund's won't be the first time that you've made and shown work in a
church. Can you tell us a bit about your 'Easter (Gas Variations)' piece?
Phill: I have taken many photographs in central
Leeds of the pieces of cardboard left after being used to sit on by people who
ask passers-by for spare change. These pieces that are carefully selected and
placed resonate with my own use of cardboard as a material for making drawings
on and with.
The cardboard
used in my piece here had previously been laid in the central aisle at St
George’s Church. Many hundreds of people have trodden on it and unknowingly
participated in the piece.
In the context of
the church the cardboard is certainly not gold, frankincense or myrrh, it is
worthless, but the people who beg and use it as insulation from the cold imbue
it with value. The piece is the net of a box. It is flattened, opened, exposed,
deconstructed or yet to be made-up.
Si: I love that people were unwittingly contributing to the piece all the
while. In many ways it's
an unusual artwork to find hanging in a church - how did people respond to it?
Phill: I was surprised at how positive people were. It was a very large piece,
5m high, and I was expecting a bit of bother.
Si: Thinking ahead to the ‘Stations’ show at St Ed’s, I'm interested to
find out what attracted you to the exhibition - why you're keen to be a part of
it, and to maybe get a little insight into what you'll be making for the
show...
Phill: I like these kind of exhibitions. Showing in a church is very
different from showing in a gallery. Things can be thrown off kilter very
easily. The work is often stripped bare by the environment and sits in a very
vulnerable position; I like that.
I'm not sure what
my piece will be like. It will be made quickly, after a lot of thinking and
turning ideas over in my mind. I like the word 'lamentation' and the work will
be centred on that.
You can find
Phill online here
And on Facebook
here
