Knowing Another is Endless - Works on paper by Andrew Phillips

About

These works made over the course of the past two years, are part of a developing body of mixed media drawings exploring the Numinous within landscape, and the relation between what is perceived as outer (or ‘other’), and inner. My practice is inspired first and foremost by a devotional attitude to landscape, emphasising the aspect of relating, rather than detached observation. I sometimes describe my work in the fairly broad brush stroke of ‘imaginal landscapes,’ my imagery not seeking to represent one distinct view of a scene as it appears visually, but instead to convey a feeling-sense.

The title I have given to this exhibition comes from The Living Mountain, by the Scottish writer Nan Shepherd. In this text Shepherd describes how what began as an exploration of outer landscapes became also an inward journey. At the end of the book an ecstatic moment of mountain vision is described, and Shepherd is left in no doubt that, “From that hour I belonged to the Caringorms.” This idea of belonging to the land suggests that there is a living relationship to be tended, a way of proceeding in the world whereby we yearn to cultivate not only sustenance from the ground, but a kinship which goes beyond the human realm — we are claimed by the very land beneath our feet. Knowing another is endless, precisely because it implies a two-way stream of relating, in which we come to know the ‘other,’ and are changed again by this new knowledge. 

All works are for sale. 

An exhibition catalogue can be viewed or downloaded from my website.