TIM PHILLIPS

As the magician forces the eye of the viewer in order to conceal the mechanics of a trick, the systems of manipulation and control which we encounter are part of an intimate ‘theatre’. Just as two-dimensional cardboard trees and a painted cloth backdrop ask that the viewer to give shape and depth to a stage show forest; the religious icon or the corporate logo is a simple compression of geometry that is infused with power through the participation of the viewer. Phillips’ work hints at this relationship with the viewer through the ritual and ceremonial qualities of the work. Carpets and cushions convey an idea of prayer, the shelf gives the idea of veneration, and the patterned wooden inlay suggests the same coded cyphers of religious texts and ancient symbolism. Essentially it is all a fabrication, a game of smoke and mirrors that bursts at the seams through the weight of it’s multifarious references – but it is as the thread unravels that we can begin to pick apart the slick modernist shapes, detailed craft, and museological arrangements that are used to legitimise the status of an object.
Much like the paradox of ‘Venice’ in Vegas where the plastic gondolas present us with a ‘theme park’ idea of place and culture, the work is in a limbo state between fakery and authenticity. However, something is revealed in this simulated state. Phillips equates this paradox at the centre of his practise in the same way a bad work of science fiction fails to convey a sense of the future, but stands firmly as an expression of the neurocies, politics, and trends of the day.