Phil Dobson first studied architecture for three years, an interest that continues to be perceptibly present in his approach of today. He later studied fine arts and art history at the University of Reading in Berkshire. He lives and works in London.
His medium is painting, in which he employs a particular technique. His paintings are composed of various layers of color in acrylic. His works are then given a three-dimensional effect through being sanded with various degrees of intensity.
During his one-month stay in July 2012 in the Sitterwerk, he wants to pursue a question that has long interested him: how has the printing press altered our culture? As a literary reference, he names The Gutenberg Galaxy by Marshall McLuhan (published in 1962). The Gutenberg Galaxy identifies a world that is fundamentally shaped by the book as a leitmotif. In it, the linear culture of writing dominates. With the advent of digitalization, this dominance changed and the screen is becoming the new leitmotif. As a result, new, networked structures become possible, which are in turn linked to the pictorial world of the Middle Ages prior to the invention of the printing press. In this connection, what interest him are the medieval manuscripts, as they can be found in the archive of the St.Gallen Stiftsbibliothek (monastery library). These historical documents serve him as a source for his own paintings.
His paintings, although created in a classic manner, might also originate, in the perception of today, from the digital world. It is precisely this change that Phil Dobson is examining.
Current Exhibitions (selection):
Our Autonomous Nature, Testbed 1, Battersea, London, Mai 2012
A Few Friends, Testbed 1, Battersea, London, November 2011