Phil Dobson studied architecture for three years before moving to Reading University where he took a degree in Fine art and History of Art. He was interested initially in a kind of architectonic approach, making 2d and 3d work in a highly organised and structured manner. He started painting around 1995 and quickly developed the technique he uses today.

His paintings are the result of layering acrylic and sanding back to a more or less smooth surface. The layers may be manipulated in some way either gesturally or by imprinting objects. Generally the first layer is quite thick, to create a deep relief, and subsequent layers are thin. These are either opaque or translucent.

Although abstract, Dobson’s richly coloured paintings take on different meanings through the eyes of the viewer whose mood they can both reflect and influence. They also have the uncanny ability to absorb and reflect the environment around them.

“Although nominally abstract, the images I make often refer to, or are informed by, the images created in the fields of science and technology. This is either intentional or accidental. I’m not sure which. However, it is a happy accident because I am interested in the interface between the freedom allowed in painting and the discipline required in science and technology. I will probably continue to play on this because this is a rich vein for mining images. In fact we could say that both the process and the image are incidental. What matters is the will to act and the results, the paintings themselves, are the evidence of that will.”

“While there is a lot of variation between individual paintings I think this indicates a desire to make sense of the proliferation of images we receive through TV, digital technology and science. And while abstract painting is ultimately visual, there is also a sense that the technological manipulation of the visual world, whether by photography, computer, or whatever, distances us from it. In some way my paintings operate in that space. I have recently yearned for a lyrical feel and possibly this will yield different results. But one shouldn’t be too predictive about it.”