PHILIPPA ROBBINS

‘Magical thinking’ could not be bettered as a word-window into the art of Philippa Robbins. Her themes are magical, often found in folklore, fairytales or the manifestations of the strange around us, but just as magical is her transubstantiation of thoughts into haunting visual images – her translation of woven baskets into a drawn language as intricate and ordered as the baskets themselves, her conjuring of pieces of lace or coral as reliquaries of past life, or her invention of a scene so impossibly familiar that one wonders if it has rekindled a spark of lost memory.

Philippa was born in London in 1964 and moved with her parents to south Wales aged sixteen. After studying modern languages she experimented with drawing and photography while bringing up her two daughters in London, Singapore and finally Penarth. In her mid thirties she took a BA in fine art at Cardiff. Her work has achieved recognition rapidly, winning prizes in the Discerning Eye and the Royal West of England Academy and being shown in the Hunting Art Prize, the BP Portrait Award and exhibitions at the Royal Academy, the Museum of Modern Art Wales, the National Portrait Gallery and Beaux Arts in Bath.

2021 John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Gallery Liverpool
A Winter Show The Art Shop and Chapel, Abergavenny
Easel Words in The Jackdaw Independent Magazine May/June 2021

2020 Discerning Eye Exhibition a virtual gallery
A Surreal Conversation Gallery at Home, Usk.
BEWILDERBEASTS with Abigail Reed, Gallery at Home, Usk

2019 We Make Art Too, CASW, Arts Central, Barry
In the Kitchen, The Art Shop and Chapel, Abergavenny
Home is Not a Place, Gallery at Home, Usk
(solo) Absent Presence, Art Shop and Chapel, Abergavenny

2018 Vis-à-Vis Oriel-Y-Bont USW Trefforest
Fears and Dreams a two person exhibition with Toril Brancher curated by Sonia Pang at Gallery at Home, Llancayo Court, Usk
Hedgerows and Gardens Summer Show, Art Shop and Chapel
(Solo) Flock, MoMA, Wales

2017 RWA 165th Open Exhibition
Competition Exhibition ‘Legend’ MoMA Wales
(Solo) Carapace, The Art Shop and Chapel, Abergavenny
(Solo) Flock, MoMA, Wales

2016 Triforium Exhibiton, Triforium, Temple Church, London.
(Solo) Waterloo Tea Rooms, Wyndham Arcade, Cardiff
(Solo) Washington Tea Rooms, Penarth
(Solo) Waterloo Gardens, Penylan

2015 (Solo) Time and Place, The Art Shop and Chapel, Abergavenny
A Winter Wildness, The Art Shop, Abergavenny

2014 Open Books, an exhibition of artists’ folding books. Beginning in November 2013 in Hangzhou, China, the exhibition toured to Hong Kong and Australia in 2014.
The Winter Show, The Art Shop, Abergavenny.

2013 (Solo) Magical Thinking, The Art Shop, Abergavenny
The Long Winter Show, The Art Shop, Abergavenny
Open Books, an exhibition of artists’ folding books. Beginning in November 2013 in Hangzhou, China, the exhibition toured to Hong Kong and Australia in 2014.

2011 Art for Children, MoMA Wales, Machynlleth

2010 University of Glamorgan Art Purchase Prize (Female Wales)
Oriel y Bont, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd.
University of Glamorgan Art Purchase Prize 2010 (Female Wales)
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Kings Road Artists Show, The Old Library, The Hayes, Cardiff
Welsh Artist of the Year, St David’s Hall, Cardiff

2009 Drawn In, Sidcot Arts Centre, Winscombe, North Somerset

2008 RWA 156th Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Artist of Fame and Promise, Beaux Arts, Bath, Bath
Final Show Down, Garej Art Space, Cardiff

2007 Broken Headlight, Garej, Kings Road Studios, Pontcanna, Cardiff
Autumn Show, Gallery Redbill, Shotton
Summer Exhibition, Attic Gallery, Swansea
Undo, Centrespace Gallery, Leonard Lane, Bristol, Bristol
Artists of Fame and Promise, Beaux Arts Gallery, Bath
London Art Fair / Victor Felix Gallery, London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, London

2006 Winter Group Exhibition 2006-2007, Attic Gallery, Swansea
Where We’re @, Tactile Bosch, Cardiff
Winter Show, Gallery Redbill, Shotton
Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Summer Show, Attic Gallery, Swansea
Summer Exhibition, RA, London
Mystery Postcards, National Portrait Gallery, London

2005 Washington Art Gallery, Penarth
Face Value, Chelsea Art Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Drawing Out the City, Bay Art, Cardiff
153 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Medical Edge, EuroArt, London
Summer Show, Royal Academy, London
Absence, Menier Gallery, London
Hunting Arts Prizes, Royal College of Art, London
Sense and Sensuality, BlindArt Inaugural Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London

2004 The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
152 Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London

Competitions, prizes and awards

Outstanding regional Entry, Discerning Eye 2004 , London
First Prize (Painting), RWA Autumn Exhibition 2004 , Bristol