Philip Watkins
www.axisweb.rg/artist/philipwatkins
Statement:
The starting point for my paintings is always direct personal experience. This means that my paintings are usually concerned with, what initially in any case, appears to be the mundane. As James Joyce puts it, ‘To write about ordinary things is the duty of the novelist: it’s the job of the journalist to write about extraordinary things’. However, sometimes everyday life is interrupted by what starts off as the ’extraordinary’ but becomes the everyday through ‘use’. In May 2020, just after the start of lockdown, I was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus. Pretty soon my routine days changed to become a different routine of daily visits to the Radiotherapy department of Velindre Hospital and regular visits to the cancer clinic in the Heath Hospital. Things changed but they stayed the same, as I just had another subject to ‘record’ in my work.
These two paintings arose from my experience as a cancer patient.
www.axisweb.rg/artist/philipwatkins
Statement:
The starting point for my paintings is always direct personal experience. This means that my paintings are usually concerned with, what initially in any case, appears to be the mundane. As James Joyce puts it, ‘To write about ordinary things is the duty of the novelist: it’s the job of the journalist to write about extraordinary things’. However, sometimes everyday life is interrupted by what starts off as the ’extraordinary’ but becomes the everyday through ‘use’. In May 2020, just after the start of lockdown, I was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus. Pretty soon my routine days changed to become a different routine of daily visits to the Radiotherapy department of Velindre Hospital and regular visits to the cancer clinic in the Heath Hospital. Things changed but they stayed the same, as I just had another subject to ‘record’ in my work.
These two paintings arose from my experience as a cancer patient.
'Radiotherapy'
52 x 42cm Acrylic on Canvas 2022 |
'Cancer Clinic, Waiting Room.'
70 x 50cm Oil on Canvas 2022 |