Philip Eglin

Philip Eglin revisits two familiar themes of his accomplished practice in this latest body of work– a new series of large, vibrantly coloured bucket forms and a further investigation of the female nude.

Philip Eglin revisits two familiar themes of his accomplished practice in this latest body of work– a new series of large, vibrantly coloured bucket forms and a further investigation of the female nude.

He sees his buckets as an opportunity to explore the mixing of deliberately unrelated and often mundane subject matter, appropriated from a broad range of sources. Eglin’s characteristic layering of figurative imagery and symbolic yet idiosyncratic palette cast a wry glance at contemporary culture, and highlight his concern with creating a balance between the high and low brow.

His new nude figures, whilst referencing 18th century English pottery and Chinese, Blanc de Chine wares, are for the first time conceived from extruded clay tubes imbued with a unique, striated surface that remains evident in the final pieces.

This richly expressive series sees the artist continuing to explore and improvise with clay, while making work that both challenges and provokes the viewer.

PHILIP EGLIN studied at Staffordshire Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. He is a leading figure in British ceramics and was the winner of the prestigious Jerwood Prize for Applied Arts: Ceramics in 1996. His most recent work explores juxtapositions of imagery related to football, religion and sex.

Eglin exhibits internationally and his work can be found in major private and public collections including the Stedelijk Museum, the Netherlands, Mint Museum, USA, British Council, London, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In addition to his ceramic work, Philip Eglin has lectured and taught in various colleges and universities throughout the UK