6xPOP. : Peter Phillips Retrospective

About

On the 21st May, Peter Phillips – one of the preeminent British Pop Artists of our time – will celebrate his 80th birthday. The Viewing Room will honour this with the launch of ‘6xPOP’ at their gallery in Kommune, an exhibition of six decades of innovative artwork - archive pieces, new works and revisited works. 

The work of Peter Philips goes a long way to prove that Pop Art remains as relevant today as it was in that crazy and perpetually fascinating decade in which it was born. His early works continue to exude a provocative power and freshness to our 21st Century eyes yet his contemporary pieces deliver the same undiminished punch with Philips continuing to offer back to us fragments of our cultural landscape in an unrelenting and unsettling expose.

As an artist Philips has remained fully committed to the central tenets of his original line of enquiry, a rare integrity, and has simply evolved along a continuum. Thus allowing his entire body of work to sit together in a most complimentary way, a seamless narrative spoken over six decades.

Refusing to run out of steam or simply rest on his well deserved laurels Philips continues to pose the same questions we see in his late mid century pieces. The boldness and vigour remain unabated and undiluted by recognition, his wit and eye unsullied by the journey. He kicks us in the senses with the same gusto as the artist as a younger man, the exact same foot in a modern boot.

Born into a working class family, Phillips studied at the Royal College of Art in London during the early 1960s, alongside fellow classmates Derek Boshier, David Hockney, Allen Jones, Brett Whitely and R. B. Kitaj, among others. Melding commercial iconography – such as the arcade machines, pin-up girls and motorbikes representative of his Birmingham upbringing – with such commercial techniques as airbrushing, Phillips has created a body of work that is both formally dynamic and thought-provoking.

Private View / Launch event. Tuesday 21st May, 6.30pm - 9.30pm  A VIP celebration accompanied by an exclusive screening of a new documentary featuring the artist. Drink/Canapés will be served courtesy of Kommnue. 

Exhibition continues to the public until the 14th June.

All works are for sale and include many rare APs. If you would like a preview catalogue please contact us.