Random Illusion No. 2

Name: PETER PHILLIPS (B. 1939)
Brand: Random Illusion No. 2
Price: 60000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised GBP 75,000

Estimate

GBP 70,000 - GBP 100,000

Closed: 14 Jul 2020

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PETER PHILLIPS (B. 1939)

Random Illusion No. 2

Price Realised GBP 75,000

Closed: 14 Jul 2020

Price Realised GBP 75,000

Closed: 14 Jul 2020

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

PETER PHILLIPS (B. 1939)
Random Illusion No. 2
signed and dated 'Peter Phillips/1969' (on the reverse), signed again, inscribed and dated again 'Random Illusion No. 2/Peter Phillips 1969' (on the stretcher)
acrylic and tempera on canvas with coloured plexiglass
78³⁄₄ x 134 in. (200 x 340.4 cm.)
Painted in 1968 and incorrectly dated 1969

Bischofberger Gallery, Zürich.
Galerie Neuendorf, Hamburg.
Offer Waterman, London.
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2010.

Exhibition catalogue, Peter Phillips, Münster, Westfälischer Kunstverein, 1972, n.p., no. 39 (illustrated in black and white).
E. Crispolti, Peter Phillips: Works 1960-1974, Milan, 1977, n.p., no. 49 (illustrated in black and white).
Exhibition catalogue, RetroVision: Peter Phillips Paintings 1960-1982, Liverpool, Arts Council of Great Britain, Walker City Art Gallery, 1982, p. 35, no. 13 (illustrated in black and white).
Exhibition catalogue, Peter Phillips: 1962-1997, Palma de Mallorca, Casal Solleric, 1997, p. 30 (illustrated in colour, as 'The Random Illusion No. 1').
W. Guadagnini (ed.), exhibition catalogue, Peter Phillips, Modena, Palazzina dei Giardini, 2002, pp. 38, 123 (illustrated in colour).

Basel, Kunsthalle Basel, Information: Tilson, Phillips, Jones, Paolozzi, Kitaj, Hamilton, June - July 1969, catalogue not traced.
Zürich, Galerie Bischofberger, Peter Phillips, October 1969, catalogue not traced.
Rome, Studio d’Arte Condotti, Peter Phillips, 1971, catalogue not traced.
Milan, Galleria d’Arte Vinciana, Peter Phillips, October - November 1971, catalogue not traced.
Münster, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Peter Phillips, November - December 1972, no. 39.
Liverpool, Arts Council of Great Britain, Walker City Art Gallery, RetroVision: Peter Phillips Paintings 1960-1982, June - August 1982, no. 13: this exhibition travelled to Oxford, Museum of Modern Art, August - October 1982; Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Laing Art Gallery, October - November 1982; Edinburgh, Fruit Market Gallery, January - February 1983; Southampton, City Art Gallery, March - May 1983; and London, Barbican Art Gallery, July - September 1983.
Palma de Mallorca, Casal Solleric, Peter Phillips: 1962-1997, June - July 1997, exhibition not numbered, as 'The Random Illusion No. 1'.
Modena, Palazzina dei Giardini, Peter Phillips, March - June 2002, exhibition not numbered.

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.
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Please note the starting bid for this lot is now £60,000

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Lot Essay

A powerful visual assault, immediately captivates the viewer, compelling them to explore the composition further. The second in a series of seven large scale works, painted by Phillips between 1968-69, they all share the same name and are numbered consecutively. As the title suggests, the incongruous objects, motifs and grids all appear to be randomly set against the black ground, seemingly with no relationship to one another they compete for attention. Two sides the canvas are bordered by rainbow coloured plexiglass, which like the neon lights used by advertiser’s, stops the viewer in their tracks, demanding attention. Illusion in the title refers to the effect created by the exquisite detail in which Phillips depicts the objects as he shows off his full range of skills. He was one of the most talented artists of a peer group that included David Hockney, Allen Jones and Patrick Caulfield, all of whom famously emerged from the Royal College of Art in the early 1960s to change the face of British art.

On closer inspection, the motifs in are not as arbitrary as one might think and when the series is examined as a whole, the compositional elements reappear in one form or another. Phillips divided the motifs into different categories and then randomly selected each motif within a category to be used in each painting. Like Schwitters and Duchamp, Phillips explored the idea of random selection and the elevation of everyday objects from so-called ‘low art’ to ‘high art’. The images Phillips uses are transposed directly from reproductions he saw. The eagle is taken from an illustration by John James Audubon in , 1965; the engine is likely to be taken from magazine and the geometric objects from a scientific journal. Their positioning within the composition is anything but random and was painstakingly mapped out so the component parts coherently relate to one another. Their machine-like finish is accentuated by the use of an airbrush, which at the time was more commonly used to paint cars and motorbikes. The billboard sized scale of , with appropriated everyday imagery enclosed by rainbow coloured plexiglass, makes this work a quintessential manifestation of the Pop idiom.
Post Lot Text
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