Phil Illingworth (b. 1955) is a British artist based in Portsmouth, UK. He is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors and a member and committee member of Contemporary British Painting
Illingworth defines his practice as experimental, through the repeated testing-out of hypotheses in the studio, and exploring the boundaries between two and three dimensions is a core element of his practice.
Through lack of canvas or much paint—and usually in three dimensions— Illingworth wittily explores the language of painting. So the movement implied here is of the spectator, through the incorporation of different viewpoints. There is, then, no shortage of content, assisted by Illingworth’s cunning titling - yet these works are essentially abstract, as well as essentially paintings.
His recent solo exhibitions include Washington Arts Centre, Washington (2021), Pushkin House London (2020), and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland (2019). Kerber Verlag have published two volumes of his photographs from Russia, 1996-2017: ‘We’ (2019) and ‘We II’ (2022).
He has exhibited in the UK, the USA, China, and in Europe including the 53rd Venice Biennale, with solo exhibitions at Platform A Gallery, Middlesbrough; WW Gallery, London; and Art Space Portsmouth. His works have been selected for the John Moores Painting Prize, the Marmite Prize IV, and the Jerwood Drawing Prize. Notable public collections include the Yale Center for British Art and the Priseman Seabrook Collection.
