War/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 moody piece struck a chord with New York rock band The Strokes, who licensed the piece for their 2003 LP, Room on Fire.

The Strokes pioneered the American garage rock revival, drawing inspiration from 1960s British punk like The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. Room on Fire was a platinum follow-up to The Strokes’ 2001 EP, The Modern Age, which was released shortly after the infamous September 11 World Trade Center attacks.

 

 

The album speaks to battles in love, psyche and politics, with lyrics like “Don’t sing along with me. I said I was fine, it’s just the second time we lost the war…” (Between Love & Hate). Akin to The Strokes’ gritty punk melodies, Phillips’ painting offers a dark expression of contrarian forces. Peace and war, love and hate, truth and lies – the diametric expressions that characterize humanity.

Perhaps because these themes are so universal to the human plight, Phillips’ War/Game has transcended the boundaries of time. From The Freedom War to the War on Terror, the Beat generation to Millennials, and a British pop artist to an American rock band, Phillips’ War/Game is a durable fabric of our culture, interweaving some of the most pivotal events of our time.

 

 

 

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Broadsheet 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...

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Art + 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...

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Peter 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...

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The 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...

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Hybrid 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...

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Happy 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...

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Australian 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.   ...

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Australian 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...

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Phillips 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...

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The 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...

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Peter 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...

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Peter 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...

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Peter 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....

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The 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.

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Phillips’ 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

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Royal 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,...

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Peter 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),...

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Peter 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...

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Tate’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...

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Remembering 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...

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Entertainment 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...

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Vogue 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...

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It’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...

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When 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...

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The 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...

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Hidden 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...

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1972 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...

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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.

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