Hurdler, 1972: Olympische Spiele Munchen
Peter Phillips was commissioned to create one of twenty-eight posters to advertise the Munich Olympic Games of 1972. Pop art contemporaries such as Allen Jones and David Hockney contributed to the collection and attended the opening ceremonies with Phillips. These posters were the first of their kind, immortalizing many cultural icons through the convergence of sport and art, and setting a precedent for artistic contributions in Games to come.
Phillips’ print incorporates literal references of the time and place, including a hurdler with the number 72, and colors of the German flag and Olympic logo. As with the entire collection of art supporting the officially named “Happy Games,” the Hurdler expressed hope and pride in a new and modern Germany. Tragically, the air of optimism turned disastrous after Palestinian zealots murdered 12 hostages in what is now known as the “Munich Massacre”.
When asked what his paintings signify, Phillips responds, “different things to different people of course.” This couldn’t hold truer for Hurdler, which has assumed the responsibility for a spectrum of emotions connected to competition, victory, loss, nationalism and religious fervor. The Hurdler is one of many of Phillips’ works that memorializes a specific time, culture and place while taking on new meaning for observers based on evolving context.
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AUSTRALIA’S NATIONAL GALLERY ADDS PETER PHILLIPS PAINTING TO ITS COLLECTION
The National Gallery of Australia (“NGA”) in Canberra has added a key painting from British artist Peter Phillips to its collection in April. Phillips, who is best known as a key founder of the pop art movement in the 1960s, recently relocated his...
read moreBroadsheet Features Peter Phillips
A New Gallery From British Pop Art Pioneer Peter Phillips in Noosa’s Tropical Hinterland He was at the forefront of a global art movement and has exhibited all over the world. Now Peter Phillips has settled on the Sunshine Coast, and his studio is open to all. In the...
read moreArt + Australia on Peter Phillips
The tough guy of pop: An interview with Peter Phillips Reclusiveness has always played a part in Peter Phillips' life and work. A pop artist with a cool detachment from the social trappings of that particular scene in London and New York in the 1960s; a Brit who left...
read morePeter Phillips Gin, Fortune Distillery and Delicious Magazine
Acclaimed artist Peter Phillips celebrates six decades of work with Fortune Distillery Iconic pop artist Peter Phillips has collaborated with Noosa Heads ‘Fortune’ Distillery where six pieces of his work have been selected for labels for six limited-edition gin...
read moreThe Urban List on Peter Phillips
Why You Need To Visit The Hidden Noosa Gallery Of Pop Art Icon, Peter Phillips Hidden treasures of the Sunshine Coast, often aren’t very hidden. But the hinterland gallery of world famous British pop artist, Peter Phillips is an exception. Tucked in Tinbeerwah, behind...
read moreThe Sydney Morning Herald Features Peter Phillips
POP ART ICON SEEKS SOLACE IN THE BUSH The Sydney Morning Herald interviews Peter on his recent move and his new life in Noosa. ...
read moreHybrid 2.0 coming in May 2020
Opening in May 2020, Lévy Gorvy will present Hybrid 2.0, a CONSUMER-DETERMINED, TASTE-CATALYSED, COLLECTOR-COMPATIBLE, 100% CONSENSUS-ISED art piece and exhibition. In the 1960s Pop icons Peter Phillips and Gerald Laing collectively imagined Hybrid...
read moreHappy Socks x Peter Phillips
BRITISH POP ARTIST PETER PHILLIPS ANNOUNCES COLLABORATION WITH HAPPY SOCKS Peter Phillips – one of the preeminent British Pop Artists of our time – is proud to announce a unique collaboration with fashionably acclaimed Swedish sock company Happy Socks. Born into a...
read moreAustralian Traveller Features Peter Phillips
POP ART PIONEER A forefather of Pop Art, British artist Peter Phillips now lives in the Noosa Hinterland where he is unveiling a Restrospective Exhibition of his work, staged in his large-scale new studio gallery in time for his 80th birthday. ...
read moreAustralian Financial Review on Phillips and the NF&W Festival
The festival that serves art with its food. The annual foodie fair has teamed up with chef Josh Lopez for the 80th birthday retrospective and gallery opening of resident British pop artist Peter Phillips. Go to article. Artist Peter Phillips can see the paradox. As a...
read morePhillips in Style Media
This Popular Pop Artist Is Showing Up On Our Doorstep This May! His career has spanned over 60 years and numerous continents, so it’s no surprise that prolific British Pop Artist, Peter Phillips is extremely well versed in his artistry. After living and working in the...
read morePhillips to unveil new studio at Noosa Food & Wine Festival this May 2019
Now residing in Noosa, Queensland, Phillips made the move after living and working in the USA and Europe, to be closer to family who also relocated there. In recognition of his internationally recognised record of exceptional and outstanding achievement in the arts,...
read moreThe Financial Times on Phillips’ works in Auction
Francesca Gavin for the Financial Times' ‘How to Spend It’ writes about Phillips' works in auction. "Waiting for certain artworks to appear at auction can be like waiting for a bus. Nothing comes along and then three appear at once. This is true of British pop...
read morePeter Phillips on Artnet News
Taylor Dafoe of Artnet News, interviewed Phillips on his move to Australia, working at 79 and why he doesn’t think much about legacy. Peter Phillips, the pioneering British pop artist, made some of his earliest (and best known) paintings over 55 years ago now. Yet...
read morePeter Phillips Opens New Studio in Australia
After years of living, traveling and working between Europe, the United States and Central America, Peter Phillips has relocated his working studio to Australia. It is located in the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane. In recognition of his internationally...
read morePeter Phillips Retrospective at 99 Mary Street
99 Mary Street have the pleasure of presenting legendary and highly influential British pop artist Peter Phillips. No mere retrospective, the show will play host to archive pieces, new works and revisited works including pieces produced specifically for this event....
read moreThe BBC and Peter Phillips
Peter Phillips has been commissioned by the BBC to create a new BBC Four ident which will run throughout August alongside new logos produced by his fellow Royal College graduates Peter Blake and Derek Boshier. The trio starred in the seminal 1962 Ken Russell documentary about Pop Art, Pop Goes The Easel.
read morePhillips’ work at the Helmhaus
The Helmhaus, a contemporary art institution run by the city of Zurich, will feature Peter Phillips in the upcoming exhibition, Das Dreieck Der Liebe – Körperlichkeit und Abstraktion
read more‘Pop to Popism’ Comes to Sydney: 1 Nov 2014 – 1 Mar 2015
Part of the Sydney International Art Series, 'Pop to Popism' will be staged at the Art Gallery of New South Wales from 1 November 2014 through 1 March 2015. The exhibition spans three decades of modern work - covering Pop Art's hey-day in the 50's and...
read moreRoyal Birmingham Society of Artists celebrates 200 years
The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists ("RBSA"), one of the oldest artist-led societies in Britain, will celebrate 200 years with a landmark retrospective exhibition titled 'A Place for Art: The Story of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists'. Phillips,...
read morePeter Phillips at Galerie Proarta, Zurich
Galerie Proarta in Zurich is staged a solo exhibition on July 9th, 2014. With over 20 original paintings, works on paper and prints on display, the exhibition featured two decades of works by Peter Phillips. Featured works included Cross Roads (1991-92),...
read morePeter Phillips at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Madrid
In 1992, pop art was famously featured at the Museo Reina Sofia. Now, bringing pop art back to a new generation of art lovers in Madrid, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza is staging Pop Art Myths from June through September 2014. Curated by Paloma Alarcó, the...
read moreTate’s Young Generation Selects Peter Phillips Works
The BP Spotlights Series, in partnership with the Tate Museum, is a series of exhibitions with in-depth displays that explore various themes. From April through September 2014, the BP Spotlight: Source explores six unique themes – one per month - and will...
read moreRemembering Africa Twirl for the 2010 World Cup
In honor of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, we remember the work Peter Phillips was commissioned to paint for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The 2010 Fine Art Project was an official 2010 World Cup collaboration that brought together a range of...
read moreEntertainment Machine at the Tate
The Tate Gallery's homage to British Pop Art, 'Art & the Sixties: This Was Tomorrow', features Peter Phillips early oil on canvas, The Entertainment Machine. Of the 31 works of Peter Phillips owned by the Tate, The Entertainment Machine is a particularly...
read moreVogue China: Pop Art Never Dies
In the February 2014 edition of Vogue Magazine, China, the article Pop Art Never Dies featured Peter Phillips 1968 gouache on paper titled Gravy for the Navy. Emblematic of what Vogue calls a provocative, sexy, sleek portrayal of modern people’s material...
read moreIt’s All Gravy
“It’s all gravy”, was once a popular slang term used by US Navy sailors meaning “it’s all good”. And so, in the early 1960s, Peter Phillips composed a series of Gravy for the Navy paintings with patriotic pin-up women (inspired by drawings by Alberto Vargas...
read moreWhen Britain Went Pop! Christies shows the early years
Launching Christie’s new Mayfair gallery in London, in partnership with Waddington Custot Galleries, "When Britain Went Pop" exhibits Pop Art in Britain from its infancy in the 1940's through its hay day in the 1960s. By 1961, emerging London-based artists...
read moreThe New Situation; Art in London in the Sixties
In 2013, Sotheby's mounted an exhibition focusing on the decade of the 1960's, when British artists captured the world’s imagination, finding recognition and success both at home and abroad. Reuniting over 40 artists from the excitement of the London scene...
read moreHidden away in Tehran
In 1979, the world’s most valuable collection of modern art located outside Europe or America simply vanished. The Islamic Revolution swept through Iran with tremendous fervor, resulting in the banishment of works held at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary...
read more1972 The Cars “Heartbeat City” Album Cover
Congratulations to The Cars for the induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! On a rainy fall day in 1984, Peter Phillips met drummer David Robinson of The Cars over cocktails in a London bar. Robinson is credited for naming the band and concepting...
read moreWar/Game: 1961 The Strokes “Room on Fire” Album Cover 2003
A century after the American Civil War, Peter Phillips created War/Game using oil and polished wood on canvas. The painting depicts opposing confederate and union forces through typical emblems of combat – flags, guns and uniforms. Four decades later, the...
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