the magical thinking of philippa robbins

Drawing by Philippa Robbins for Isabelle and the Magpie 

Artlog regulars will from time to time have seen the work of painter Philippa Robbins here. The Art Shop Gallery in Abergavenny, that beautiful space on the first floor of a labyrinthine building dating from the sixteenth century, is having an exhibition of Philipp’s work later this year. It’s a perfect setting for her work, and I know the show is going to be a treasure trove for those who love craftsmanship in drawing and painting, combined with the originality of thinking that this artist has in such abundance. The drawing of Isabelle and the Magpie (above) will be in the exhibition.

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Magical Thinking will run at the Art Shop Gallery in Abergavenny from 31st August to 19th October .

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Philippa produced works for the Maquette and Alphabet Soup online exhibitions at the Artlog, and she was one of the artists selected by Peter when he curated Art for Children at MoMA Wales in 2010. Philippa’s thoughts on the exhibition theme were that when she was a child she’d loved all things macabre, so as a starting point for her submissions, she planned to paint skeletons. But as a child she’d also loved collecting things, and so a second thread was added by way of the postage-stamp as her example of taxonomy. Put together the two resulted in a wonderfully eccentric series of postage-stamp designs that replaced the monarch with a skeleton queen named Dora, occasionally in company with her skeleton consort, Angel. Even their dog got in on the act in some of the stamp designs! You can see an example of one of the skeleton/stamp themed works, HERE. (In fact, I loved this painting so much that I purchased it from the exhibition, and it’s now in our dining-room.)

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