Philip Archer OBE: Objects of Interest
Works
  • Philip Archer OBE, Flowers with Boxes and Wrapped Objects
    Philip Archer OBE, Flowers with Boxes and Wrapped Objects
    £ 1,700.00
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  • Philip Archer OBE, Still Life with Sculpture Maquette
    Philip Archer OBE, Still Life with Sculpture Maquette
    £ 2,500.00
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  • Philip Archer OBE, Old Fish Basket with Ikebana
    Philip Archer OBE, Old Fish Basket with Ikebana
    £ 1,700.00
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  • Philip Archer OBE, Flowers in a Red Pot
    Philip Archer OBE, Flowers in a Red Pot
    £ 850.00
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  • Philip Archer OBE, Sunflowers
    Philip Archer OBE, Sunflowers
    £ 850.00
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  • Philip Archer OBE, Studio Still Life, Contre Jour
    Philip Archer OBE, Studio Still Life, Contre Jour
    £ 1,700.00
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  • Philip Archer OBE, Sunflowers
    Philip Archer OBE, Sunflowers
    £ 5,800.00
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Overview
Philip Archer OBE, Objects of Interest

Objects of Interest

 

"I once met Paolozzi for breakfast and the first thing he said to me was "What do you collect?" Artists collect things and I have in my studio many items that interest me visually, mentally and spiritually. They are objects of beauty, memory and mystery, gifts from friends, found objects, things with family history, items bought and loved.

 

From time to time I find it enriching to set up a still life and to paint directly from observation. It takes time and reflection to set up the arrangement; Matisse said 'It's relationships that count' and 'I do marriages of objects'. Finding links and relationships between things is stimulating, evoking thoughts and feelings and ideally becoming more than the sum of its parts.

 

A Cathie Pilkington sculpture maquette that looks like a duck but isn't a duck (itself an idea made with found objects and plaster), set against a perfectly triangular piece of rock I found on a walk in the Brecon Beacons, together with a few studio items, turns into something rich and strange.

 

Another Cathie Pilkington maquette, this time a fish basket set against a faint Ikebana arrangement, which represents heaven, earth and humanity (ten, chi and min). Ikebana means 'to give life to flowers'. My aim is to give life to nature morte by encouraging the viewer to absorb, question and recognise the evoking of ideas, mood, atmosphere and expression."

 

- Philip Archer OBE

 

Philip Archer was born and brought up in Cardiff. He started his studies in Art Foundation at Cardiff College of Art and went on to complete a BA in Sheffield College of Art and MA in The Royal College of Art, London. He later moved to Scotland where he was Principal at Leith School of Art from 1991 - 2019. Philip was awarded an OBE in the 2021 New Year Honours list for services to art and education.

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