I am a visual artist living and working in Scotland. I trained and practiced as an architect for many years, but now work across many mediums including digital media installations and photography.
Although my projects usually start and end with words, I work instinctively, searching for beauty in the mundane and overlooked. I play with surface, light and shadow and see abstraction as a way to reveal the hidden stories of things.
The In Praise Of Shadows and other Transitional Spaces series are interrogations of the interaction of natural light and shadow on the surfaces and geometric shapes found in interiors and in particular, the corridors, stairs and other between spaces of buildings where art is displayed, or made.
This obsession with liminal spaces goes back to when, as an architecture student in the 70’s, I realised that buildings could be conceived like a poem, a novel, or a piece of music, with a backstory, a narrative and a message. And so, became fascinated with entrances, seeing the linear process of entering a building as an opportunity to slowly reveal its story. Corridors and stairs then became places where this narrative could be further developed over time. So perhaps, it is these lost stories I am still searching for in my Transitional Spaces projects.
In April 2016 I had a heart attack, which strangely, also affected my eyes, leaving me with a very reduced area of focus – a bit like looking at the world through a macro lens. It is this personal experience that is the subject of the In The Broken Places series where I search for beauty in those places, or things, that have played, or continue to play, a part in my treatment and recovery and found myself, yet again, exploring the liminal.
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I am a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, BArch (Hons), an elected Professional Artist Member of both the Society of Scottish Artists (SSA), and Visual Arts Scotland (VAS), and a member of the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts.
For over twenty years I created stereoscopic 3D immersive experiences for teaching a range of science, medical and art subjects, and have developed travelling shows, workshops, exhibits and visualisation tools for schools, science centres and universities. In 2003 I had the honour of becoming an Apple Distinguished Educator, and in 2010, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Aberdeen School of Medicine.
Philip J Lavery
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2019 : Exploring The Liminal : The Barony Arts Centre, West Kilbride.
2018 : Shutter Hub Open : Old Truman Brewery, London and 5&33 Gallery, Amsterdam.
2018 : Solo : Exploring The Liminal : Patriothall Gallery, Edinburgh.
2018 : Current : Tatha Gallery, Newport on Tay.
2018 : Abstracts : Close Gallery, Edinburgh.
2018 : SSA & VAS Open : Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.
2018 : Royal Photographic Society Scottish Travelling Exhibition.
2018 : Borders : Bridewell Theatre Gallery, London.
2017 : Connection : & Gallery, Edinburgh
2017 : Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Art, Glasgow.
2017 : Close Gallery, Edinburgh.
2017 : Art Gemini Prize Finalist Exhibition : Asia House, London.
2017 : Shutter Hub Open : Retina Festival, Edinburgh.
2017 : Royal Photographic Society Scottish Travelling Exhibition.
2016 : Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Art, Glasgow.
2016 : Art Gemini Prize Finalist Exhibition : Asia House, London.
2016 : Bright : Leeds.
2016 : Royal Scottish Academy Open : Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.
2016 : Shutter Hub Cambridge Open : Cambridge.
2016 : Der Greif “A Process 2” : Krakow Fotofest, Krakow.
2016 : Royal Photographic Society DIG Travelling Exhibition.
2016 : Royal Photographic Society Scottish Travelling Exhibition.
2011 : On Wrecker’s Ball / All Wrapped Up : Invited Artist. Drawing on Riverside Exhibition : Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow
2007 : Maxwell’s Equations : Collaboration with composer PJ Moore (Blue Nile) Edinburgh Science Festival, Edinburgh.
2007 : 3D VJ : Collaboration with RM*, Designers Block Festival, London.
2007 : Made Of Light : Radiance Festival, Glasgow.
2006 : Made Of Light : Earls Court, London.
2005 : Made Of Light : SIA, Berne.
2004 : Made Of Light : RIBA, London
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