2015, Folly, Egg tempera on antique chestnut, 700 x 700 mm.
Retrospective & Contemporary Exhibition of Works
7-29th September 2024 l'Arca di Pan, Panicale, Umbria, Italy
IŪ̆XTĀ
This exhibition conveys Bayliss Brown’s concern with relationship between humanity and the natural world, expressed through his wide ranging interests, including: the history of painting, theology, extinction, human behaviour & existentialism - these themes are explored by the juxtaposition of science and philosophy, through works created using a variety of media. IŪ̆XTĀ(ancient Latin for "beside or close to” - the root of the word juxtaposition) seeks to articulate these complex ideas and to challenge the observer to question the relationship between the temporary physical and spiritual presence of Homo sapiens and the greater more enduring natural world. Philip’s work is full of pictorial metaphors, including: repeating patterns in nature to emphasise the constancy of hidden and recurring relationships over time and space; fragmented supports to express physical and societal delicacy; and other symbols, such as coral, referencing the vulnerability of the earth. This exhibition is both a retrospective of the artist’s exploration of techniques & ideas, and a premier of his contemporary activity.
Questa mostra esprime l'interesse di Bayliss Brown per il rapporto tra uomo e natura, attraverso i suoi studi ad ampio raggio, tra cui: storia della pittura, teologia, estinzione, comportamento umano ed esistenzialismo - questi temi sono esplorati attraverso l’incontro tra scienza e filosofia, con opere realizzate utilizzando varie tecniche. IŪ̆XTĀ (in latino accanto o vicino a – da cui giustapporre) cerca di articolare queste idee complesse e sfida l'osservatore a mettere in discussione la relazione tra la presenza fisica e spirituale dell'Homo sapiens, limitata nel tempo, e l’incommensurabile durata della natura. Il lavoro di Philip è pieno di metafore pittoriche, tra cui: patterns naturali per enfatizzare la permanenza di relazioni nascoste e ricorrenti nel tempo e nello spazio; supporti frammentati per esprimere fragilità fisica e sociale e altri simboli, come il corallo, che testimonia la vulnerabilità della terra. Questa mostra è sia una retrospettiva della ricerca tecnica e del pensiero dell'artista, sia una première dei suoi lavori più recenti.
Questa mostra esprime l'interesse di Bayliss Brown per il rapporto tra uomo e natura, attraverso i suoi studi ad ampio raggio, tra cui: storia della pittura, teologia, estinzione, comportamento umano ed esistenzialismo - questi temi sono esplorati attraverso l’incontro tra scienza e filosofia, con opere realizzate utilizzando varie tecniche. IŪ̆XTĀ (in latino accanto o vicino a – da cui giustapporre) cerca di articolare queste idee complesse e sfida l'osservatore a mettere in discussione la relazione tra la presenza fisica e spirituale dell'Homo sapiens, limitata nel tempo, e l’incommensurabile durata della natura. Il lavoro di Philip è pieno di metafore pittoriche, tra cui: patterns naturali per enfatizzare la permanenza di relazioni nascoste e ricorrenti nel tempo e nello spazio; supporti frammentati per esprimere fragilità fisica e sociale e altri simboli, come il corallo, che testimonia la vulnerabilità della terra. Questa mostra è sia una retrospettiva della ricerca tecnica e del pensiero dell'artista, sia una première dei suoi lavori più recenti.
The Artists' Brush: World History, Theory & Practice
With Foreword by Sir Antony Gormley
Available on Amazon
Following eight years of research and writing The Artists' Brush: World History, Theory & Practice was published in November 2023. Further information is available at: www.theartistsbrush.org
FOREWARD by Sir Antony Gormley OBE RA
It seems that our forgotten hunter-gatherer ancestors did not only extend the capability of the hand through the sharp hardness of stone tools but also through the pliability of the brush. To hunt and slaughter and to admire and draw the creatures with which we share the biosphere arose simultaneously.
This impressive study of the brush in all its multiple forms; from the crushed fibre of a severed branch to the careful selection of strands from a squirrel’s tail that allowed the sophistication of Southern Song brush painting are exhaustively examined in this extraordinary piece of scholarship which, in its diversity, becomes a celebration of human creativity.
Philip Bayliss Brown’s work from early hominid evolution through to the sophistications of Indian, Persian, European, Chinese, South, Meso- and North American and Australian uses of the brush, and the infinite varieties of fur, fibre and hair that were used in their construction, gives us a panoply of human inventiveness as interesting to Anthropologists as to Art Historians and to Artists themselves.From his research, we realise that the brush has been with us from the beginnings of our evolution and was as essential in our dawn as it is in our day. I sincerely hope that this compendium encourages people to make brushes of their own, to admire brushes in all the richness of their making and to use them now to make new works that bear witness to the times in which we live.
This impressive study of the brush in all its multiple forms; from the crushed fibre of a severed branch to the careful selection of strands from a squirrel’s tail that allowed the sophistication of Southern Song brush painting are exhaustively examined in this extraordinary piece of scholarship which, in its diversity, becomes a celebration of human creativity.
Philip Bayliss Brown’s work from early hominid evolution through to the sophistications of Indian, Persian, European, Chinese, South, Meso- and North American and Australian uses of the brush, and the infinite varieties of fur, fibre and hair that were used in their construction, gives us a panoply of human inventiveness as interesting to Anthropologists as to Art Historians and to Artists themselves.From his research, we realise that the brush has been with us from the beginnings of our evolution and was as essential in our dawn as it is in our day. I sincerely hope that this compendium encourages people to make brushes of their own, to admire brushes in all the richness of their making and to use them now to make new works that bear witness to the times in which we live.