Philip Absolon
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Philip Absolon (born November 24, 1960) is an English artist and a member of the Stuckists.
He was born in Erith, Kent, and is the great-great-grandson of the Victorian watercolourist John Absolon (1815-1895). He is dyslexic. He attended Medway College of Art and Design (1977-9) where he met Billy Childish and Bill Lewis, and was associated with the The Medway Poets, although not a formal member of the group. At Epsom College of Art (1979-82) his paintings were thrown in the skip on the instructions of the Principal. In 1987 he was rejected by the Royal College of Art after submitting pictures of cats. He spent much of this time of his life formally unemployed.
In 1999 he was one of the twelve founder members of the Stuckists art group, and has exhibited in all their key shows, including London, Paris, New York and Germany. He was one of the featured artists in their landmark show The Stuckists Punk Victorian at the Walker Art Gallery for the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. He also participated in the Stuckists' yearly demonstrations outside Tate Britain against the Turner Prize.
The preoccupations of his work are cats, skeletons and blondes. His work has a wry humour, humanity and directness. It is sometimes compared to Outsider Art. He described Job Club:
| They were all real people on a government unemployed scheme. They were builders apart from me, and they didn't want to be there. We'd all been doing it so long that I thought we would end up dead still doing it. I also disguised them because I didn't want to get beaten up. They 're all portraits. I'm the middle one. |
He is currently based in Norfolk England.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Ed. Katherine Evans (2000), "The Stuckists" Victoria Press, ISBN 0-907165-27-3
- Ed. Frank Milner (2004), "The Stuckists Punk Victorian" National Museums Liverpool, ISBN 1-902700-27-9
