Philip Battley

My work to some extent involves delving into social, political, and economic tensions that exist beneath life’s surface.  I express what I want to say on these issues in my own way, subsuming information from varying sources and then coming to a conclusion through imagery. 

The use of photography plays a vital role within my practice.  I don’t try to make my drawings look like photographs, up close the fact of them being a drawing is obvious.  But by using photography as a tool, removing and retaining elements within the image, my ideas can be brought into realisation.  

Each drawing evolves through a constant process of application and removal,  striving to obtain the levels of texture and tone that I feel best describe the form.  Throughout construction there is a constant dialogue.  An exchange between previous and subsequent marks made, a conversation, with the drawing directing me towards what it needs to become.  I feel that within this balance of direction and intuition the drawing's mass of forms become cohesive and breathe life into the work.