five questions with philip gurrey
Studio shot
1. Could you explain your practice?
At present my practice is concerned with gesture and expression and the inherent connections to ethics, morality and therefore politics. I suppose my practice, even when I was an undergraduate student, was concerned with ethics and morality. I have always been energized by the physical encounter with a work of art both as an artist, creator and as viewer or observer. I’m currently making large “abstract” paintings, for want of a better word, that explore paint and the creative process, that is all they do really. Improvisation lies at the heart of that, as does an understanding of how we express ourselves, how does an art object continue to live or continue to be relevant? More importantly perhaps for me is, how does an artwork come into existence and who is it for?
2. Is art relevant today?
Art will always be relevant. We understand the World in many ways. A cognitive, linguistic or verbal understanding of things is predicated upon our being in the world or our physical interaction with it. Art and music for instance, non linguistic forms of expression, help communication what it means to exist, through action, not through thought. That is vitally important for me. It gives renewed importance to the physical encounter or an event. We are beginning to understand how important physical interactions with other people are due to the restrictions surrounding the pandemic. People are missing the cinema, art events, music events, football games, restaurants, pubs they are missing physically being in a certain place and time, physically encountering an event and everything that that experience entails. That is where art exists not in meanings and explanations but in that physical encounter that event.
3. What art/style/period I don’t like.
That is a very difficult question as often what we don’t like gives us greater insights into what we are searching for. Rather than list a period or artist I would say that art that derives its content from its artist is the worst. Let me explain what I mean. Meaning comes, I think, from the gap between the physical encounter with the art object and the cognitive articulation of that encounter. We try to understand an encounter with an art object by cognitively mimicking that encounter in relation to the context in which it exists. Often that meaning, that combination of forces; the art object, the context, the observer, can be hijacked by an overly powerful or overly present artist. What I am trying to explain is that when an artist is too present or overly present within an artwork, the context and the art object itself can be overwhelmed and it reduces their force or impact. There is a bigger question that arises about ownership that I won’t expand on here. For me there is a lack of generosity in certain artists’ approaches to making. There is often ego at the heart of the matter and a reluctance to trust the observer or viewer perhaps?
Red, Black, Grey 1:11:2018
4. If you could go back 10-20 years what would you tell your younger self.
Well, I’d say a number or things probably not appropriate here! Ha. Stop drinking so much! Haha. In relation to art I’d say that taking yourself seriously is great and needed but allow your boundaries to be flexible. Allow things that feel uncomfortable or irritating in. Give them room. Discuss encounters with art objects more and not only what you think they mean. I’d push myself to get publications like this off the ground. Put together reading groups that meet once a month. Take on responsibility. On a positive note I’d say keep up your work rate and energy its so valuable. Applying energy to things, applying force even if that means in standing still, it is the force that resonates.
5. If you could go forward 10-20 years what do you hope to have done or not done.
I hope that we as a race have started to take our context more seriously than our individual actions. We derive value or meaning from our understanding of our actions immersed within our environment. I feel through the 70’s, 80’s especially the 90’s and 00’s we have been obsessed with ourselves as individuals. Politics has helped determine that as has education. Yet we can’t continue that trend, the world will swallow the human race whole if we don’t start to read the context in relation to our actions more. That goes for making art too. We can’t make art in a bubble, it simply reflects that bubble, that seems clear, why then do we continue to live in bubbles, because they feel safe, comfortable? Nothing is achieved if nothing is risked.
Grey, Black, Green 2:11:2018
Bio
Philip Gurrey was born in York, UK in 1984.
He completed his undergraduate degree in Painting and Printmaking at the Glasgow School of Art in 2007. He completed his Masters of Letters Degree in Painting and Printmaking with distinction in 2012. Philip has exhibited across Europe and in North America and he has work in the Fondation Francès collection in Senlis, France, the Mercer Art Gallery collection in Harrogate and the Pathfoot Collection at the University of Stirling in Scotland.
Philip is currently studying a practice-based PhD at Western University in Canada.
www.philipgurrey.com